AU634327B2 - Method for supplying various departments of shopping centers with department specific information - Google Patents

Abstract

In a method for supplying different departments of a self-service supermarket equipped with a multiplicity of shopping trolleys with information specific to a department, each of these specific information elements of a specified length is stored decentrally in digital form in a transceiver unit (5) assigned to the respective department (2) and subsequently transmitted in a specified cycle in serial form via an infrared link (6). The information transmitted via the infrared link (6) is received by means of transceiver units (8), which are fitted to all shopping trolleys (7) of the supermarket, belonging to those shopping trolleys (7) which are located in the respective department (2), is temporarily stored in the transceiver units (8) and is then represented on a display (9) of the transceiver units (8). Furthermore, a code number is allocated to each transceiver unit (8) fitted to the shopping trolleys (7), which code number, immediately after each visual representation of information on the display (9) of the respective transceiver unit (8), is transmitted for confirmation purposes via the infrared link (6') to the transceiver unit (5) provided in the respective department (2), where it is recorded. The reception time and the date are allocated in the transceiver unit (5) to each received code number. <IMAGE>

Description

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA,, 4 4 Patents Act 1952 C 0 MP L ETE S P EC IF IC

(ORIGINAL)

Class Int. Class Aionlication Number Lodged Commlete Scecification P rio.0ri4tyv Lodged Accemted Published :23 December 1989 Related Az Name of Amooicant Address of Amolicant Actual 7nv, ntor (4) Address :or Ser-7ice :SYSTEC AUSBAUSYSTEMC GMBH :Ringstr. 17 D-8031 Eichenau Federal Republic of Germany :Horst Sonnendorfer Franz Wieth RICE CO., Patent A--Z=e1s 23A Montague Stre-et BAL.MAIN NSW 2041 Comolete Soecification -for the invention entitLled: 'METHOD FOR SUrPLYING VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS OF SHOPPING CENTERS WITH DEPARTMENT SPECIFIC INFORMATION" The fLollowing statement is a full description of this invention including the best method of perfo~ing it known to smE 1i The invention relates to a method for supplying various departments of a large self-service store, equipped with a number of shopping carts, with department-specific information. In large self-service stores, customers are informed of particularly attractive offers, special sales, new products, and so forth in centrally controlled announcements over the loudspeaker. These loudspeaker announcements are often repeated ceaselessly, always in the same order, and so over the long run are not only annoying but in fact, by their constant repetition, create an increasing 1 distaste on the part of the customers hearing them.

Meanwhile, some such stores also use transmitters in departments that are to be supplied with specific information for S2G that particular department. From these transmitters, the information intended for the particular department is transmitted wirelessly to receivers that are installed on all the shopping carts in a such a store. The information received is then acoustically reproduced over loudspeakers and/or shown on relatively large screens, which are likewise provided on the shopping carts and are connected to the receivers on the shopping carts. However, to la customers stopping in the various departments, information announced over the shopping cart loudspeaker in these departments is just as annoying as the central loudspeaker announcements. When screens are attached to the pushbars of the shopping carts, their size is a nuisance, on the one hand: on the other, the equipment for triggering the screen and supplying it with the requisite energy requires considerable space, so thus still further restricting the already relatively limited space in the shopping cart.

Previously, the data absolutely required to prepare a so-called customer route study have been collected with the aid of a more or less large number of persons for an appropriate period of time, either by observing individual customers or by polling them, making it possible to learn for instance what route the individual customer takes through the self-service store; whether he will frequent, or has frequented, certain so-called service shops; how long he stayed in the various departments; and so forth. The facts gained by observation or polling are then recorded on prepared questionnaires or in table form, or dictated onto tape, for example.

The preparation alone, not to speak of later carrying out such studies in the form of observations, polling and the i k like, is not only extremely time-consuming and thus labor-intensive, but in such polls of customers, one must also depend very heavily on the good will and cooperation of the individual customer and on his readiness to answer the questions auked with the necessary accuracy and detnil. Despite the heavy expenditure of 2time end labor needed, the facts and results obtained in this w.'ay still have a variable amoun- of intrinsic uncertainty; the customer route study to be prepared, or prepared later, therefore necessarily often produces incorrect results that do not fully correspond to actual facts.

It is therefore the object of the invention to create -i method and an apparatus for supplying various departments of a large self-service store equipped with a number of shopping carts with department-specific information, in which quite carefully aimed information that can be quickly changed, is made individuilly accessible to each customer of the store in the various deplr:-tments, and in which information, every time it is effectively output, may optionally be stored in memory.

A method is also to be created in which in addition to the display of department-specific information, the route taken by each of the shopping carts used by customers of such a store and optionally the period of time each of these cards remains in individual departments should also be reliably ascertained and recorded In a preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention, all the information specific to a department can be stored in a memory, for example in a memory diskette, in a transmitter/receiver unit that is associated with the particular department and hence is decentralized. The information stored in decentralized fashion is then output serially over an infrared 3path in the region of the particular department at a specific predetermined cycle, for example with a transmission rate of 125 kilobits per second.

The information transmitted to the region of the particular department is then received by receiver/transmitter units on the shopping carts located there, stored bitwise in a buffer memory provided in each receiver/transmitter and then made visible to the customer by playback on a preferably four-line display in each of the receiver/transmitters located in this department.

The receiver/transmitters with display are preferably mounted in the field of view of the customer, on the top front edge of the basket of the shopping cart. Here, the department-specific information is generally shown only once on the display of the receiver/transmitter mounted on the shopping cart during the time a customer spends in that department. It is also assured in the method of the invention, by suitable monitoring and by the transmission mode used, that the information offered will always be received in such a way that it is played back on the display only once, from the beginning, without any omissions or truncations.

For instance, the information received is canceled from the memory of the receiver/transmitter after a certain period of time, or it may remain stored in the memory of the receiver/transmitter for possible repetition until such time as the customer pushes the shopping cart into some other department. Preferably at about the same time as or immediately after each visual playback of information on a display, a preferably encoded signal indicating this output of information can be transmitted by infrared rays to the L4 4 department transmitter/receiver, recorded there and stored in such a way that it can be called up again. In other words, in the method of the invention, each time information is played back in full on a display, the signal transmitted by infrared light provides confirmation and thus a return acknowledgement that the information specific to this department was not only received by the receiver/transmitter mounted on each shopping cart but was also visibly displayed thereon.

The number of confirmation signals received in each department is recorded in decentralized fashion and stored provided with a department-specific code in such a way that it can be called up. Frvom the confirmation signals, which can be called up by means of a h indheld unit, a kind of log is thus created, from which it can tor instance be learned how often continuously output information has in fact been passed on to customers over the displays on the shopping carts. Furthermore, the receiver/transmitters provided on the shopping carts are provided with a code number, which is either automatically broadcast or sampled by activation of all the transmitter/receivers that are installed in sampling locations of the store of interest in terms of a customer route. The time and date of reception can be assigned to all the information broadcast by the receiver/transmitters, including the code number, or all the information received in the receiver/ transmitters. Especially from the assignment of the time of 5 reception to the code number of a receiver/transmitter, a conclusion can for instance be drawn as to how long a customer remains in certain departments, or under some circumstances how long the customer looks at specific articles or groups of articles.

Finally, a location identification code can also be allocated to the transmitter/receivers disposed in decentralized fashion, and this code is likewise broadcast over the infrared path to each of the receiver/transmitters that reach the region of the infrared path of such a transmitter/receiver. In that case, the receiver/transmitters mounted on the shopping carts are then also each equipped with a memory to store location identification codes. In that case, appropriate sampling or scanning devices need to be provided only at the exit, for instance, or preferably in the region of the cash registers; by means of these devices, the data temporarily stored in the receiver/transmitters of the shopping cart are sampled and transferred to the transmitter/receivers. All these extracted data can then be passed on, for instance indirectly to a central memory, or collected in a local memory and from it sent at regular intervals for evaluation and further processing. Once the data have been extracted from the memory of the receiver/transmitter mounted on the shopping carts, this memory is erased again, making it immediately ready for use once again and capable of again storing data.

The invention will now be described in further detail in terms of a preferred embodiment, referring to the accompanying drawings. Shown are: -6- 9 Fig. 1, schematically shows a transmitter/receiver unit provided in a department, and a receiver/transmitter unit with display provided on a shopping cart; Fig. 2a, shows a schematic view of a receiver/transmitter with display in a front view; Fig. 2b, shows a sectional view through the receiver/transmitter of Fig. 2a; Fig. 3, schematically shows a handheld unit communicating with a transmitter/receiver; and Fig. 4, schematically shows a computer and printer arrangement connected to a handheld unit.

First, the principles of an information system operating by the method of the invention, with which a self-service market is for instance made capable of informing its customers at the socalled P.O.P. (point of purchase) will be described. To this end, information from transmitter/receiver units 51-5n, installed at a height of from 2.5 to 4 m, each of them provided in n departments 2 of the self-service market, is transmitted along with signals for system control by infrared rays 6. This information is received by receiver/transmitter units 81-8,, mounted on shopping carts 71-7, and displayed by means of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) 91-9, of the receiver/transmitters 81-8,. Each receiver/transmitter 8 with LCD 9 is mounted for this purpose within the field of view of a customer, on the top front edge of a basket 7c 7 i, of each shopping cart 7. Teire are from one to four lines, reac; for 40 alphanumeric characters per line, available in each I.CD 1, with one line displayed aft.Lr another. The manager of the selfservice market can decide whether and in what order the lines should be repeated, whether a line should appear immediately or be developed slowly, whether a line should flash, and/or whether an acoustical signal should be qenerated before the information it displayed, or before each ot the lines, or before individual lines.

in A filing system can also be developed in the transmitter/receivers 51-5, mounted in the n departments 2, storing how often the information transmitted has in fact been shown on a di;play 9. To this end, tho ::.,tisfactory reception and in partic.ilar the satisfactory playback ot the information on the display 9 is 1. signaled to the applicable transmitter/receiver 5 -5n by the receiver/transmitters 8 mounted on the shopping carts 7, over an infrared path 6' The time can also be recorded in the filing system every hour on the hour; the filing system will also be hereinafter called the billing file, because with its aid an advertiser can be billed, for instance in leasing to an advertiser. The self-service store manager can for instance negotiate billing to the advertiser selectively, on the basis of either the leased time or how many displays are actually shown on the display equipment 9.

With the aid of the information system according to the invention, a so-called electronic customer route study can be made. To this end, the receiver/transmitters 8 1-8m mounted on the 8 shopping carts 71-7m, with the associated displays 91-9m, are numbered continuously, electronically. The number of each receiver/transmitter 8 can be called up by the transmitter/receivers mounted in the n departments 2 and then is stored in them along with the time and date, again in a filing system hereinafter also called the acknowledgement file. By suitable installation of the transmitter/receivers 5 1-5n in the n departments 2, it can thus be ascertained when a given shopping cart 71-7, m visited a given department.

The information system according to the invention comprises four basic components, namely a computer in the form of a laptop 1, one or more handheld units 3, a number n of transmitter receiver units 5 to be mounted in the various departments, ,ind a number m of receiver/transmitters 81-8, with LCD displays provided in them, to be installed on shopping carts 71-7 m The functions of the four basic components of the information system will now be described in detail.

As can be seen from the schematic illustration in Fig.

4, the laptop 1 has a screen la, represented by a rectangle, and a merely schematically shown control panel l1. The laptop, which is i an MS DOS-type computer, for instance, comprises a 512 kb main memory, a 20 megabyte hard disk, and a 3.5 megabyte drive for 720 kb diskettes, again as an example. A printer Id is connected via a cable Ic to the laptop 1. The laptop 1 can be connected to the handheld unit 3 over a further cable le.

9 i With the aid of the software installed on the hard disk of the laptop 1, a user, for instance the manager of a self-service store, a hypermarket and the like can put the information intended for receiver/transmitters 81-8m having the associated displays 91-9 m into the desired form and with the der.ired format.

After formatting of the various information, it can also be decided whether data for billing, on the basis of the information actually displayed, and/or additional data for analysis should be collected in the transmitter/receivers 51-5, installed in the n 11 departments 2.

With the aid of a transmission command, the various information, and formatting and operating instructions can be transmitted to the handheld unit 3 over the cable le. From the handheld unit 3, the applicable information and tile corresponding instructions can be stored directly in one of the transmitter/recei ers 51-5 n intended for this purpose in the n departments, or in file cards 3b.

The handheld unit 3 with battery backup serves to exchange data between the laptop 1 and the various transmitter/receivers so that expensive hard wiring between a central station and the individual transmitter/receiver units 51is avoided. As shown in Figs, 3 and 4, a display 3a, corresponding to the displays 9 of the receiver/transmitters 8, is provided in the handheld unit 3. As indicated by a dot-dash arrow in Fig. 4, a file card 3b can be selectively associated with the handheld unit 3.

10 As already mentioned, from the laptop 1, the formatted data are transmitted over the cable le to the handheld unit 3.

For monitoring purposes, the information can be shown on the display 3a of the handheld unit 3 immediately after inputting.

The information can also be inscribed in a data card 3b, for data protection.

As schematically shown in Fig. 3, from the handheld unit 3, the information along with the formatting instructions is transmitted, by means of infrared rays 6'indicated by a dot-dash arrow, to the transmitter/receiver unit 5 installed in the applicable department 2. For instance, an LED (not shown) provided on the handheld unit 3 may indicate successful transmission by lighting up in green, and by lighting up in red, an LED can indicate defective transmission. In the latter -ase, the transmission should naturally be repeated. As indicated by a dot-dash arrow 6'1, the information that has just been fed into the transmitter/receiver 5 can likewise be called up again from it by infrared for monitoring purposes.

The aforementioned billing file can also be called with 2C the handheld unit 3 from all the transmitter/receivers 51-5, at any time. In this case again, if an LED provided on the handheld unit 3 lights up in green, this indicates satisfactory transmission. After a successful transmission, the data file in the applicable transmitter/receiver 51-5 n is suitably erased, so that it is then available only in the handheld unit 3. For reasons of security, the data file should therefore be stored immediately in a data card 3b.

11 If the handheld unit 3 is to be used to prepare for an analysis, then the transmitter/receivers 51-5, are numbered with sequential location identification numbers, with the aid of the handheld unit 3, so that later, to prepare the analysis, the location identification numbers of the various transmitter/receivers 51-5, can be read out again. Sequential numbering of all the transmitter/receivers 51-5, is absolutely necessary in order that the data files stored in the various transmitter/receivers 51-5 n can be assigned perfectly to a specific point, that is, to a very specific department 2, in the store layout of a self-service store, supermarket, hypermarket or the like.

The handheld unit 3 can also be used to adjust a clock provided in the transmitter/receivers 51-5, at any time, via the infrared path so that the handheld unit 3 is also assigned the function of a master clock. Both to prepare an analysis and merely for functional monitoring, the acknowledgement data file prepared in the various transmitter/receivers 51-5, can be called up at any time by these transmitter/receivers 51-5n, output to the handheld unit 3 via the infrared path6",and suitably automatically inscribed at the same time into a data card 3b.

The various transmitter/receivers 51-5 n serve on the one hand to transmit information to the receiver/transmitters 81- 8 m, with the displays 91-9 m provided in them, mounted on the shopping carts 71-7m, and on the other hand for developing the aforementioned billing and acknowledgement data files. The various transmitter/receivers 51-5, are installed in the n departments 2 for which they are specifically intended, for instance being hung at a 12 ~sur*a~srra i -l i x height of 2.5 to 4 m. Either a main power unit (not shown) or a charge unit (likewise not shown) is assigned to the transmitter/receivers 5 In normal use, the transmitter/receivers 51 n have at least approximately four weeks of battery backup.

By means of the handheld unit 3, the information to be transmitted to the particular department 2 is stored in the transmitter/receiver 5 provided there. Once this has been done, the transmitter/receiver 5 automatically begins to transmit both its number, in the form of the location identification number, and the 10 operating and formatting instructions. As soon as the reception of the number and the other instructions has been acknowledged by a receiver/transmitter unit 8 mounted on a shopping cart 7, the special information intended for the ,articular department is transmitted. Satisfactory reception is then confirmed by the applicable receiver/transmitter 8 or by means of the handheld unit 3. As already mentioned, if necessary, a billing data file can be developed with these confirmations, and can then be called up at any time using the handheld unit 3. The number of the applicable 'I transmitter/receiver 51-5,, in the form of its location identification number, and the information broadcast to it are then transmitted jointly, automatically, so as to preclude mistakes. (Once satisfactory reception has been signaled by the handheld unit 3, the data file that has just been called up is canceled in the applicable transmitter/receiver unit 51-5n.) In order to enable sending the same information to departments that cover a large area, 10 transmitter/receivers 13 can for instance be wired together, with any arbitrary transmitter/receiver unit 5 forming the starting point. The rest of the transmitter/receivers 5 are then connected in series via synchronizing cables to the transmitter/receiver 5 acting as the starting point.

Each of the transmitter/receivers 51 can be used for pure analysis, or for analysis combined with information transmission. To do so, however, a memory expansion must be made for each transmitter/receiver 5, so that the location identification number and the various operating and formatting instructions can be programmed in along with the information, by means of the handheld unit 3. As soon as the transmission from the handheld unit 3 to the applicable transmitter/receiver 5 has been effected, the transmitter/receivers transmit both its number, in the form of the location identification number, and the operating and rormatting instruction. As soon as these data have been acknowledged, with the code number of the unit, by a receiver/transmitter unit 8 mounted on a shopping cart 7, the code number of the acknowledging receiver/transmitter 8 is stored in memory along with the time in the acknowledgement data file referred to initially.

Since information is generally stored in the applicable transmitter/receiver 5, it is then transmitted to this receiver/transmitter 8 over the infrared path 6 (Fig. (However, if the acknowledgement is effected from a handheld unit 3, then nothing is stored in the acknowledgement data file of the trar mitter/receiver 5; instead, only the information is transmitted.) Tn that case, an indication is then made on the handheld unit 3 14 I that the transmitter/receiver 5 has been set to the analysis mode.

The acknowledgement data files stored in memory in the transmitter/receivers 51-5n can be read out by means of the handheld unit 3, and are then automatically immediately recorded on a data card 3b. If there is a computer-controlled linkage of all the acknowledgement data files, a customer route study can then be made.

The display 9 provided in each receiver/transmitter 8 serves to display the information transmitted by a transmitter/receiver 5. The receiver/transmitters 8 also acknowledge satisfactory reception of the operating and formatting instructions and of the transmitted information, along with the code number of a particular unit, which was either assigned to it at the factory or input by means of the handheld unit 3.

AN can be seen from Figs. 2a and 2b, each receiver/transmitter 8 is mounted inside a basket 7c of a shopping cart 7 (Fig. on the top front euge of the basket precisely opposite the pushbar 7a of each shopping cart 7, with the aid of a special tool (not shown) by means of a hook-like L-shaped attachment 8c embodied on the back of its housing 8a, and is aimed in such a way that the front 8b of the housing containing the display 9 in the form of an LCD module is oriented toward the field of view of a customer pushing the shopping cart 7, as indicated in Fig. 1 by an arrow 10. Each receiver/transmitter 8 also has a printed wiring board 8d, suggested in a sectional view, and an electronics module 8e. Each of the receiver/transmitters 8 mounted on shopping carts 7 draw energy from batteries, not shown further here, which are 15 recharged by the ambient light with the aid of solar cells, likewise not shown. As a result, every receiver and transmitter unit 8 mounted on a shopping cart 7 and having a display 9 is immediately ready for use.

As soon as a receiver/transmitter 8 enters the region of of a transmitter receiver unit 5, the receiver/transmitter 8 acknowledges the satisfactory reception of the operating and formatting instruction by broadcasting its number. Typically, the' transmitter/receiver 5 will then broadcast the information stored in it, which is transmitted by infrared rays 6 to the receiver/transmitter 8 located in its vicinity and stored in that unit.

This means that the customer does not need to remain below a transmitter/receiver 5 in order to receive the complete information. The receiver/transmitter 8 checks for defective transmission of the information and confirms it. Not until satisfactory reception of the information has been confirmed by the receiver/transmitter 8 is the information, transmitted over the infrared path 6, is shown on its display9 in accordance with the formatting instructions.

2C To this end, in the receiver/transmitter 8, the informa- IH tion is shifted into a shift register, for instance with a clock frequency of 16 kHz. After every eight bits of information shifted in, a clock pulse is generated, and as a result this byte of information, now present in parallel form in the ASCII format is shifted into the display 9. This course of events now takes place another 79 times in succession, for example, so that in this 16 case 80 alphanumeric characters are displayed, for instance in two lines. The outpout formatting is generated by the electronics of the receiver/transmitter 8.

17 L- i

Claims (5)

1. 2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, characterised in that the display unit is controlled by c,°ntrol pulses to ensure that the message is never displaye j unless the message is displayed completely from the beginning of the message.
2. 3. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, characterised in that the department is an individual department of a plurality of departments, the shopping cart is an individual cart of a plurality of shopping carts, and the individual cart follows a route through the plurality of departments, wherein each shopping cart of the plurality of carts is provided with a unique code number to identify it among the plurality of shopping carts, and when the individual cart is within a current department of the plurality of departments, the cart infrared transmitter of 19 the individual cart transmits the code number of the individual cart to the departmental infrared receiver of the current department.
3. 4. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, characterised in that the department is an individual department of a plurality of departments, the shopping cart is an individual cart of a plurality of shopping carts, and the individual cart follows a route through the plurality of departments, wherein each shopping cart of the plurality of carts is provided with a unique code number to identify it among the plurality of shopping carts, and when the individual cart is within a current department of the plurality of departments, the cart infrared transmitter of the ind.vidual cart transmits the code number of the individual cart to the departmental infrared receiver of the current department, and the code number is stored in the memory so as to record information relating to the route of the individual cart. Apparatus as defined in claims 1, 3, or 4, characterised in that the time and date of the confirmation signal is stored in the memory.
4. 6. Apparatus as defined in claims 1 or 2, characterised in that the department is an individual department of a plurality of departments, the shopping cart is an individual cart of a plurality of shopping carts, each one of the plurality of carts is provided with a cart memory, the individual cart follows a route through the plurality of departments, the departmental infrared receiver and departmental infrared transmitter of each department is provided with a location identification code, and the location identification code is transmitted to, and stored in the cart memory of, any one of the plurality of shopping carts which nters the department.
5. 7. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, characterised in that a handheld unit with battery backup is used for 20 loading information including the message through the departmental infrared receiver into the memory. DATED this 25th day of November 1992 SYSTEC AUSBAUSYSTEM GMBH Patent Attorneys for the Applicant: F.B. RICE CO.