AU9705101A - Labelling system and method - Google Patents

Description

05-DEC-2001 16:59 A J PARK 64 4 472 3358 P. 03/32 Regulation 3.2 0

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AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT, 1990 COMPLETE

SPECIFICATION

FOR A STANDARD

PATENT

ORIGINAL

Name of Applicant: VISUAL MARKETING (NZ)

LIMITED

Name of Applicat: Actual Inventors: Brent Andrew McGrath and Stephen James Cane Address for service A J PARK, Level 11, 60 Marcus Clarke Street, in Australia: ACT 2601 Labelling System and Method Invention Title: The following statemcent is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us '05-DEC-2001 17:00 A J PARK 64 4 472 3358 P.04/32 2 LABELLING SYSTEM AND METHOD FIELD OF INVENTION The invention relates to a labelling system and method, particularly but not solely designed for labelling retail items. The invention is particularly suitable for pricing and marketing in addition to labelling.

BACKGROUND TO INVENTION It is common to display produce and other items for sale in a self-service enviromnft for example a supermarket or other retail premises. Produce is generally displayed in one or mare bins or open-top containers, Positioned near the product container is genierally a display board or label identifying the product for sale and thle price of that product.

It would be particularly advantageous to provide a system for generating and displaying such *product labels in a timely and cost effective manner- it would also be particularly advantageous to display other information on the product label, for example a description of S the product, suggestions for use of the product and any health benefits of using the product.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION In broad terms in one form the invention provides a labelling system including a product information database in which is stored product information representing one or more retail items; a product images database in which is stored electronic images associated with one or more products in the product information database; a product retrieval component configured to retrieve product data representing a product from the product information database; an image retrieval component configured to retrieve image data representing the retrieved product from the product images database; and a product label generator configured to produce a physical label from the retrieved product information and the product image.

In another form in broad terms the invention provides a method of producing a label including the steps of retrieving product information representing a retail item from a product information database; retrieving product image data from a product images database; and Os5-DEC-2001 17:00 Al J PARK 64 4 472 3358 P.05/32 3 producing a physical product label from the retrieved product information and retrieved product image data.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE

FIGURES

preferred forms of the product labelling system and method will now be described with reference to the accompanying figures in which: Figure I shows a block diagram of a system in which one form of the invention may be implemented; Figure 2 shows an example product informnatiofl database; Figure 3 shows a sample pricing database;, Figure 4 shows a sample product image database; Figure 5 illustrates an example product barcodes database; 20 Figure 6 shows the preferred system architecture of hardware on which the present invention may be implemented; Figure 7 shows a flowchart of one preferred method of the invention;, Figure 8 shows an example product label generator used to generate a label; Figure 9 shows the label generator used to generate a price; Figure 10 illustrates a user defined label design; Figure 11 shows a user defined price label; and Figures 12, 13 and 14 show example labels g enerated in accordance with the invention.

05-DEC-2001 17:00 A J PARK 64 4 472 3358 P.06/32 4 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PRFFERRED

FORMS

Figure 1 illustrates a block diagram of the preferred system 10 in which one form of the present invention may be implemented. The system 10 could include a personal computer or s workstation 20 operating under the control of appropriate operating and application software having a data memory 22 interfaced to a server or data processor 24.

The workstation 20 is preferably connected to a suitable network or networks 30. It is envisaged that network 30 could includes a local area network Or LAIN, a wide area network io or WAN, an Internet, Intranet, wireless access network, telecommunications network or any combination of the foregoing.

The system 10 further includes one or more clients indicated generally at 40, for example 40A, 40B and 40G. Each client workstation 40 is preferably operated byareilognstn 1* in the business of selling products to consumers, for example a supermarket. The -oo organisationi could operate in any area in which goods or services are provided to a customer.

A client workstation could also be operated by a wholesaling or distribution organisationl in the business of supplying goods and/or services to a retail organisation.

20 The system 10 ftuther includes a product database indicated at 50. The product database has *stored in it product data representing one or more products or items, preferably those items sold by an organisationl operating a client workstation 40 in the course of its business. The product database 50 is preferably implemented as a relational database having a series of 0 0 0unique product identifiers as primary keys for the product database. Each record in the 25 database is preferably identified by a unique item identifier, and includes data such as product name and other product information which is further described below.

Each record in the product database 50 could further includes a text description of the product or item. This text description could include for example suggestions on use of the item.

Where the item is a food item, the suggestions could include preferred methods of using the item in cooking. it is envisaged that the text description could fiurther include health benefits of using the items, hazards and warnings for using the item, and the nutritional value of the item.

05-DEC-2001 1?:01 A J PARK 64 4 4?2 335e P.O?/32 Figure 2 shows one example of product informatio daa.e h aaas ol nld line entry for each retail item. Each line entry could include a product identifier 52 and an item name 54. Each line entry could also include further product information indicated at 56 which could further include one or more product information fields. These fields could include a consumer information field 56A, tips for selecting a product at 56B, lips for storing a retail item 56C, anld tips for preparing a retail item at 56D.

The product information database could also include user defined fields shown at 58. Such user defined fields could include price lookup data (FLU data) 58A and pricing data 58B for example a value identifying scale number, or price by weight of the item.

Each record of the product database 50 in one form could include both an image of the item and a text description of the item. It is also envisaged that images of the item could be stored in a separate database to a text description of each item. It is also envisaged that the product database could be installed on a memory connected to the network 30, could be installed on workstation 20, or could be installed on one or more of the clients It is envisaged that the text description of each item for example fields 54 and 56 includes character strings and may further includes formatting codes and commnands for presenting the 20 character strings. It is also envisaged that the text description could be in English where the ~0 intended purchasers of the items are mostly English speaking. Where some or all of the customers do not speak English, the text description could be stored in a language other than English more appropriate for that organisation.

25 Alternatively, the formatting code and commands could be stored in a master file which is loaded by the system. This master file could specify, for example, the style and size and character sets of the text used in the system.

The system 10 further includes a pricing database 60. The pricing database is preferably implemented as a relational database having a series of records. Each record is preferably identified by a unique product identifier, preferably the same unique product identifier as the product identifier used in the product database 50. Each record of the pricing database preferably includes the sale price of an individual item. It is envisaged that each record could also include different pricing structures, for example prices which exclude GST, prices which 05-DEC-2001 1?:01 A J PARK 64 4 4?2 3358 P.08/32 6 include OST, and prices which include: a product discount. it is envisaged that the pricing data in the pricing database could be stored in any appropriate currency.

Figure 3 illustrates a sample pricing database 60. The database could include a line entry for each retail item. Each line entry could have, for example, a product identifier 62 anid a regular price 64 for the product. The database could also include further price entries indicated at 66 which could include special or "sale" prices. The database could also include a 'unit entry indicated at 68 storing information on whether the retail item is sold individually, in a packet or by weight.

Referring to Figure 1, the system 10 could further include a product image database Figure 4 illustrates one example of a product image database. The product image database could include, for example a line entry for each product or item having a product identifier 72 and a product image 74. The product image 74 could includes a graphical representation of the item, for example an electronic image in JPEG file interchange format, BITMAP (BtAP) format, graphics interchange format (GTE) or TIFF.

As shown in Figure 1, the system 10 may also include a product barcodes database V 0 0 0Referring to Figure 5 the product barcodes database could include a series of line entries.

2 0 Each line entry could include, for example a product item identifier 82 and a barcode :0 identifier 84. At point of sale, a barcode reader could read the barcode of an item which is a then cross-checked in the product barcodes database 80 to an item identifier- The item identifier could then be used to retrieve further data on the product, for example the price 004 ftrm the pricing database 0000 Referring to Figure 1, the system 10 may also include a label designs database 90 which is used to store a series of pre-deftned product, price and combination product/price labels, together with user defined labels. These label designs are further described below.

It is envisaged that the product information database 50, pricing database 60, product images database 70, product barcodes database 80 and label designs database 90 could be combined into a single database storing both product data and pricing data. in one form of the invention, each of the databases 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90 could be remotely updateable. A user on a client 40 could initiate transfer of data from the workstation 20 over the network(s) 30 to 05-DEC-2001 17:01 A J PARK ~5-EC-001i7:1 PJ PRK4 4 472 3358 P.09/32 7 update one or more of the databases. This remote updating could be provided 3 for example, on a website, enabling a user to download such information easily. In another form, data could be transmitted as it is altered on the workstation 20 over the networks 30 to the product databases. Each of the update files could include a time and date of update. In one version, the client 40 on running the application would automatically interrogate the data stored on workstation 20 to ensure that the latest data has been transferred to the databases $03 60, and/or In a further form of the invention, the user could define, edit and manage the database or databases 50, 60, 70, 80 and/or 90 and send updated information to the workstation One advantage of separating at least product information, pricing data and images is that data which is updated more frequently, for example pricing data, can be updated independently of the product information and the product images. Furthermore, separating the product is information database from the other components of the system enables information specific to a particular country or region to be displayed as a label. One example could be countries :which require labelling for genetically modified items.

As will be described below, the invention provides a method and system of producing a product label for an organisation based on data stored in the product information database the pricing database 60, the product images database 70 and/or the product barcodes database and/or the label designs database Figure 6 illustrates one preferred system architecture of the wvorkstation 20 and/or client 25 The computer system 100 typically includes a central processor 102, a main memory 104 for example RAM and an input/output controller 106. The computer system 100 also includes peripherals such as a keyboard 10 8, a pointing device 110 for example a mouse, trackball or touch pad, a display or screen device 112, a mass storage memory 114, for example a hard disk, floppy disk or optical disc, and an output device 116 for example a printer. The computer system 100 could farther include -wireless data transmission apparatus (not shown), a network interface card or controller 118 and/or a modem 120. The individual components of the system 100 could communicate through a system bus 122. Alternatively, the various components of the computer system 100 could be distributed from each other and interfaced through the network 05-DEC--2001 17:02 A J PARK 64 4 472 3358 P.10/32 Figure 7 illustrates a preferred form method 200 of the invention. As indicated at 202, product information associated with an item is retrieved from the product database 50. As described above, this product database could be stored on workstation 20 and accessed over the network 30, could be stored on a fuirther memory interfaced to the network 30 or could be installed on a client workstation The product image is then retrieved from the product images database 70 as shown at 204.

Preferably, the product identifier from the product information database is used to index the 1o product image.

As shown at 206, once the item information and item image are retrieved from the item information database and the item images database respectively, a sample ticket is created from this information. The preferred form ticket includes an electronic label design into which the information retrieved from the above databases is inserted. Where necessary, the text to be inserted in a particular field in the label design could be adj usted in terms of height :and width for example, so that product display names such as "yams" and "Californian seedless grapes" appear proportional and visually appropriate in the label. Similarly the size *of an image could be adjusted to fit a particular image field in the label design.

As indicated at 208, the product information is printed on a suitable device, for example a printer 116. The printer could includes a suitable colour inkjet or laser printer.

It is envisaged that flitter product data could be retrieved as described below.

As shown at 210, pricing data relating to the product retrieved at step 202 is retrieved from the pricing database. Once again, the retrieval could be performed over the network 30 from the server 20 or a separate memory in which the pricing database 60 is stored. Alternatively, where the pricing data is installed on the client 40, the pricing data is simply retrieved from the hard drive of the client workstation 40. As shown at 212, the pricing data is printed on a printer, for example printer 116.

05-DEC-2001 1?:02 A J PARK 64 4 472 3358 P.11/32 9 As shown at 214, the ticket or label is assembled by mounting the printed product and image information on a mounting board and then overlaying the physical printed pricing data onto the product information.

In another preferred form, the product information and the pricing data could be arranged in an electronic form, for example by using a pointing device 110 and viewing a screen display 112 and the combination of product information and pricing data printed on printer 116 and mounted on a display board.

The invention also provides a convenient user interface to enable a user to create a product label and retrieve product images, product information and product pnices from the appropriate databases. The user interface provides access to one or more label designs stored in the label designs database 90. Examples of these label designs are described with reference to Figures 8 to 11. Refenring to Figure 8, a user interface in the form of a label generator 300 includes a data entry and retrieval panel 310 and a label preview panel 320. The data E entry/retrieval panel 3 10 includes a plurality of fields which are further described below.

One of these fields is a label design field 330 enabling a user to select a dropdown list of predefined label designs accessible from the label database 90. The label design field 330 preferably includes a label retrieval component configured to retrieve the available label designs from the label design database and to list these label designs in a dropdown list in the field 33O0.

A product field 340 enables a user to select a particular product from among a list of alternatives. The product field 340 could include product retrieval component configured to retrieve product names from the product database and to make these product names available to a user in a dropdowfl list in the product field 340.

The label generator 300 could also include product information field 360 which uses the product retrieval component to retrieve product information from the product database 50 and to populate field 360 with this information. Field 360 preferably shows the product information available to a user and field 370 shows the information selected by the user from field 360 to be displayed on the label.

05-DEC-2001 17:03 A J PARK 64 4 472 3358 P.12/32 As the user is retrieving or entering data in the panel 3 10, panel 3 20 is preferably Populated with this data in pre-selected regions. These regions could include, for example, a Product name region 3 80, a product image region 3 90 and a product information region 400.

The product label generator 300 could then produce a physical label by printing the contents of preview panel 320.

Figure 9 illustrates the generation of a pricing ticket where a user wishes to generate a pricing ticket separate from a product label. The user first selects a label design in the label design field 330, for example a price design. The user then enters a price in the price field 410 or alternatively a plurality of available prices could be retrieved from the pricing database using a pricing retrieval component. Weights/units field 420 preferably includes a data retrieval component configured to retrieve from the pricing database 60 a list of alternatives for Weights/units7 for example price per kilogram, price per 50 grams, or price per weight bag, for example.

The user may then enter further text in the auxiliary text field 430 and could also include data in the scale number field 440, for example that there is a limit on the number of products available for sale to a particular consumer.

As panel 310 is populated with data, the corresponding data in the resulting price label 2> preferably appears in panel 320. The price label could include a series of regions, for example, a price region 450, a weights/units region 460, an auxiliary text region 470, and a scale number 480.

The product label generator 300 could then produce a physical label representing the price of a product by printing the contents of preview panel 320.

The invention may also provide for a user a label designer which is described with reference to Figures 10 and 11. The label designer enables a user to create a new design, or alter an existing one and store the new or altered design in -the label designs database '05-DEC-2001 1?:03 A J PARK 64 4 4?2 3358 P.13/32 11 Figure 10 illustrates one example of the user defined label design 500 which could include a logo region 510, an image data region 520, a product name region 530, a data text region 540, product information text region 550, a further logo 560 and backgrounld colour 570.

Figure I I illustrates at 600 an example of a user defined price label. The price label could include a price dollars region 610, a price cents region 620, a price unit name 630, a static field showing currency 640, an auxiliary text field 650 and a scale number field 660. The price label could also include a background colour 670.

to The invention provides a convenient method for generating product labels and prices.

Examples of these product labels are shown in Figures 12, Figure 13 and Figure 14. It will be appreciated that the product labels are merely a few of the plethora of product labels able to be generated by a user.

The invention provides a product labelling system and mnethod in which product labels can be jeasily generated. Changes in product descriptions and product pricing can also be easily implemented by updating product database, 50 and/or pricing database 60. The databases could be accessible over a network 30 for updates and/or access by one or more of the clients or by any other third party. Alternatively, the databases could be installed on a chient workstation 40 with regular updates, for example on CD Rom, provided to the organisationi associated with the client workstation The foregoing describes the invention including preferred forms thereof. Alterations and modifications as will be obvious to those skilled in the art are intended to be incorporated within the scope hereof as defined by the accompanying claimns.

Claims (4)

1. 05-DEC-2001 17:03 A J PARK 64 4 4?2 335e P.14/32 12 The claims defining the invention are as follows: 1. A labelling system including: a product information database in which is stored product information representing one or more retail items; a product images database in which is stored electronic images associated with one or more products in the product information database; a product retrieval component configured to retrieve product data representing a product from the product information database; an image retrieval component configured to retrieve image data representing the retrieved product from the product images database; and a product label generator configured to produce a physical label from the retrieved product information and the product image. 2. A labelling system as claimed in claim 1 fiither including: a pricing database in which is stored pricing data associated with one or more products ~:in the product information database; and a pricing retrieval component configured to retrieve pricing data representing the retrieved item from the pricing memory; wherein the product label generator is configured to produce a physical label representing thle price of the item. 3. A labelling system as claimed in claim I or claim 2 further including: a label designs database in which is stored one or more label designs; and 00 25 a label retrieval component configured to retrieve a label design from the label designs database; wherein the product label generator is configured to produce a physical label from the retrieved label design. 4. A method of producing a label including the steps of: retrieving product information representing a retail item from a product information database; retrieving product image data from a product images database; and 05-DEC-2001 1?:04 A J PARK 64 4 472 3358 P.15/32 13 producing a physical product label fromn the retrieved product information and retrieved product image data. A method of producing a label as claimed in claim 4 further including the steps Of'. retrieving pricing data representing the retail item from a pricing database; anid producing the physical product label from the retrieved pricing data.
2. 6. A method of producing a label as claimed in claim 4 or claim 5 fRther including the steps of: retrieving a label design from a label designs database; and producing the physical product label from the retrieved label design.
3. 7. A labelling system, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
4. 8. A method of producing a label, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Dated this 5th Day of December 2001 their Patent Attorneys nA AJ PARK On behalf of the Applicant 2. Per: