CN111612106A

CN111612106A - Position relation checking method, device, system and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN111612106A
Application number: CN201910134397.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 韩建康
Original assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd
Current assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd
Priority date: 2019-02-22
Filing date: 2019-02-22
Publication date: 2020-09-01
Anticipated expiration: 2039-02-22
Also published as: CN111612106B; WO2020168985A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a position relation checking method, device, system and storage medium, wherein the system comprises: the system comprises a server and a plurality of electronic shelf labels; each electronic shelf label is used for receiving identification information sent by a first target electronic shelf label in a line-of-sight range based on line-of-sight communication; the identification information of the electronic shelf label and the identification information of the first target electronic shelf label are used as relative position data and sent to a server; and/or when a trigger event occurs, sending the identification information of the second electronic shelf label to a second target electronic shelf label in a line-of-sight range based on line-of-sight communication, so that the second electronic shelf label sends the identification information of the second electronic shelf label and the received identification information as relative position data to a server; the server is used for determining the actual placing position relation among the electronic shelf labels according to the received relative position data and verifying the actual placing position relation among the electronic shelf labels. Accordingly, verification efficiency and/or accuracy may be effectively provided.

Description

Position relation checking method, device, system and storage medium

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of electronic technologies, and in particular, to a method, a device, and a system storage medium for checking a position relationship.

Background

With the increasing improvement of the living standard of people, large storage places such as markets, supermarkets, warehouses and the like are continuously increased.

An electronic shelf label, called an electronic shelf label or an electronic price label for short, is an electronic display device which is placed on a shelf and can replace the traditional paper price label. In the various locations described above, electronic shelf labels may be used to manage and operate items on the shelves. At present, workers in a place usually put electronic shelf labels and articles according to display drawings. When a place manager needs to check whether the actual placement condition meets the requirements of the display drawings, manual sampling or inspection is needed, which results in very low checking efficiency and low accuracy of the checking result.

Disclosure of Invention

Aspects of the present disclosure provide a method, device, and system storage medium for checking a positional relationship, so as to improve efficiency and/or accuracy in checking a positional relationship in an article shelf.

The embodiment of the application provides an electron frame is signed system, includes: a server and a plurality of electronic shelf labels deployed in an item shelf;

any one of the at least one electronic shelf label is used for receiving identification information sent by a first target electronic shelf label in a line-of-sight range based on line-of-sight communication; sending the identification information of the server and the identification information of the first target electronic shelf label to the server as relative position data; and/or when a trigger event occurs, sending the identification information of the second electronic shelf label to a second target electronic shelf label within a line-of-sight range based on line-of-sight communication, so that the second electronic shelf label sends the identification information of the second electronic shelf label and the received identification information as relative position data to the server;

the server is used for determining the actual placing position relationship among the electronic shelf labels according to the received relative position data and verifying the actual placing position relationship among the electronic shelf labels.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a position relationship checking method, which is adapted to an electronic shelf label, and includes:

receiving identification information sent by a first target electronic shelf label in a line-of-sight range based on line-of-sight communication;

and sending the identification information of the server and the identification information of the first target electronic shelf label as relative position data to the server so that the server can check the placing position relation of the electronic shelf label according to the relative position data.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a position relationship checking method, which is applicable to an electronic shelf label, and includes:

monitoring a set trigger event;

when a trigger event occurs, the identification information of the target electronic shelf label is sent to the target electronic shelf label within the sight distance range based on sight distance communication, so that the target electronic shelf label sends the identification information of the target electronic shelf label and the received identification information as relative position data to the server, and the server can check the electronic shelf label placement position relation according to the relative position data.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a location relationship checking method, which is applicable to a server, and includes:

receiving relative position data sent by a plurality of electronic shelf labels, wherein the relative position data comprises identification information of the electronic shelf labels and identification information of the electronic shelf labels within the sight distance range of the electronic shelf labels;

and determining the actual placing position relationship among the electronic shelf labels according to the relative position data, and verifying the actual placing position relationship among the electronic shelf labels.

The embodiment of the application also provides an electronic shelf label, which comprises a memory, a processor and a line-of-sight communication device; the line-of-sight communication device comprises a line-of-sight receiving unit and/or a line-of-sight transmitting unit;

the memory is to store one or more computer instructions;

the processor is coupled with the memory for executing the one or more computer instructions for:

receiving identification information sent by a first target electronic shelf label in a sight distance range by using the sight distance receiving unit; the identification information of the server and the identification information of the first target electronic shelf label are used as relative position data to be sent to a server, so that the server can check the placing position relation of the electronic shelf label according to the relative position data; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

when a trigger event occurs, the sight distance sending unit is utilized to send the identification information of the second electronic shelf label to a second target electronic shelf label in the sight distance range, so that the second electronic shelf label sends the identification information of the second electronic shelf label and the received identification information as relative position data to the server, and the server checks the placement position relation of the electronic shelf labels according to the relative position data.

The embodiment of the application also provides a server, which comprises a memory, a processor and a communication component;

the memory is to store one or more computer instructions;

the processor, coupled with the memory and the communication component, to execute the one or more computer instructions to:

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer-readable storage medium storing computer instructions, which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to execute the aforementioned various positional relationship checking methods.

In the embodiment of the application, the electronic shelf tags are arranged among the electronic shelf tags on the goods shelf, identification information can be transmitted based on line-of-sight communication, and each electronic shelf tag can send the identification information of the electronic shelf tag and the received identification information to the server as relative position data. Therefore, the server can obtain a large amount of relative position data capable of reflecting the position relationship between each electronic shelf label and the electronic shelf labels in the sight distance range, the server can determine the actual placing position relationship among the electronic shelf labels according to the relative position data, and whether the actual placing position relationship among the electronic shelf labels accords with the display drawing can be judged based on the actual placing position relationship. Therefore, in the embodiment of the application, mutual positioning between the electronic shelf labels can be realized based on line-of-sight communication, so that the actual placing position relation between the electronic shelf labels can be accurately determined, intelligent checking and checking of the placing condition of the goods shelf can be realized, and the checking efficiency and accuracy can be effectively improved.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the application and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the application and together with the description serve to explain the application and not to limit the application. In the drawings:

fig. 1a is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic shelf label system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 1b is a schematic view of an application state of an electronic shelf label system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a communication state of a plurality of electronic shelf labels 10 in a one-way communication mode in an electronic shelf label system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a process of performing one-way communication between any two electronic shelf labels 10 in the electronic shelf label system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a data packet according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a line-of-sight communication encoding protocol according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a communication status of a plurality of electronic shelf labels 10 in a two-way communication mode in an electronic shelf label system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a process of performing two-way communication between any two electronic shelf labels 10 in the electronic shelf label system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic flowchart of a location relationship checking method according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic flowchart of another location relationship checking method according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic flowchart of another location relationship checking method according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic shelf label according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a server according to another embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more apparent, the technical solutions of the present application will be described in detail and completely with reference to the following specific embodiments of the present application and the accompanying drawings. It should be apparent that the described embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present application, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.

At present, when a manager needs to check whether the actual placement condition of an article shelf accords with a display drawing, manual sampling inspection or inspection is needed, so that the checking efficiency is very low, and the accuracy of a checking result is not high. To address the problems with the prior art, in some embodiments of the present application: the electronic shelf tags are arranged among the electronic shelf tags on the goods shelf, and can transmit identification information based on line-of-sight communication, and each electronic shelf tag can send the identification information of the electronic shelf tag and the received identification information to the server as relative position data. Therefore, the server can obtain a large amount of relative position data capable of reflecting the position relationship between each electronic shelf label and the electronic shelf labels in the sight distance range, the server can determine the actual placing position relationship among the electronic shelf labels according to the relative position data, and whether the actual placing position relationship among the electronic shelf labels accords with the display drawing can be judged based on the actual placing position relationship.

The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1a is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic shelf label system according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1a, the system comprises: a server 11 and a plurality of electronic shelf labels 10.

In this embodiment, the plurality of electronic shelf labels 10 may transmit data by line-of-sight communication. The line-of-sight communication refers to that wireless signals are transmitted between a transmitting end and a receiving end in a straight line without being blocked under the line-of-sight condition. The electronic shelf label 10 may communicate with other electronic shelf labels within its line of sight range. In addition, the electronic shelf label 10 may also communicate with the server 11, wherein the electronic shelf label 10 and the server 11 may be connected through a wireless or wired network. For example, the electronic shelf label 10 and the server 11 may realize transmission of relative position data through an Access Point (AP). Of course, other network connection methods may be used between the electronic shelf label 10 and the server 11 to realize the transmission of the relative position data, such as a mobile network. The network format of the mobile network may be any one of 2G (gsm), 2.5G (gprs), 3G (WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, CDMA1100, UTMS), 4G (LTE), 4G + (LTE +), WiMax, 5G, and future 6G or 7G.

Fig. 1b is a schematic application state diagram of an electronic shelf label system according to an embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1b, a plurality of electronic shelf labels 10 are disposed in the item shelf, and at least one of the electronic shelf labels may be used as an example, each electronic shelf label 10 may be mounted at a position corresponding to a display position on the item shelf. Wherein the number of the electronic shelf labels 10 can be determined according to the number of display positions required to be verified in the goods shelf, and the number of the electronic shelf labels 10 can be two or more than two. The arrangement structure of the plurality of electronic shelf labels 10 on the goods shelf can be flexibly adjusted.

In some practical applications, a management party may design a display drawing in advance by using an auxiliary means of display management software, so that the display drawing represents a deployment structure of a plurality of electronic shelf labels 10 on a goods shelf, and a worker may deploy the electronic shelf labels 10 according to the display drawing. In order to reduce the operation complexity, the staff can ensure that the electronic shelf labels are installed at each arrangement position according to the arrangement structure of the electronic shelf labels 10 on the goods shelf represented by the display drawing, so that the staff does not need to distinguish different electronic shelf labels and also does not need to pair the electronic shelf labels with the arrangement positions, and the operation complexity is greatly reduced. Of course, the embodiment is not limited to this, the display drawing may also represent the identifiers of the electronic shelf labels paired at each deployment position, and the staff may install the plurality of electronic shelf labels 10 on the respective corresponding deployment positions according to the identifiers of the electronic shelf labels paired at each deployment position.

An exemplary deployment configuration is shown in FIG. 1b, in which the display positions of the item shelves are arranged in rows and columns in FIG. 1b, and the electronic shelf labels 10 are deployed in a one-to-one correspondence with the display positions, such that the deployment configuration of the electronic shelf labels 10 is also arranged in rows and/or columns. Of course, the deployment structure shown in fig. 1b is only an example, the electronic shelf label 10 may not correspond to the display position one by one, and the electronic shelf label 10 may also be deployed according to other deployment rules, for example, according to rules of interlaced deployment, spaced deployment, star deployment, etc., which is not limited in this embodiment, and the required deployment rules may be embodied in the display drawing. It should be noted that only one item shelf is shown in fig. 1b, but this should not limit the scope of the present embodiment, in the present embodiment, the number of the item shelves may be multiple, and accordingly, the electronic shelf labels 10 may be disposed on multiple item shelves.

In order to realize the line-of-sight transmission, a line-of-sight communication device may be installed in each electronic shelf label 10, and the line-of-sight communication devices may be used for line-of-sight communication between the electronic shelf labels 10, and may include a line-of-sight transmitting unit and/or a line-of-sight receiving and transmitting unit. The line-of-sight communication device may be an infrared communication device, or may be another communication device capable of supporting line-of-sight communication, which is not limited in this embodiment.

In this embodiment, the view-distance communication functions that can be supported by the electronic tag 10 may be different according to different hardware structures.

For example, when only the line-of-sight receiving unit is disposed on the electronic shelf label 10, the electronic shelf label 10 can only support the line-of-sight receiving function.

For example, when only the line-of-sight transmitting unit is disposed on the electronic shelf label 10, the electronic shelf label 10 can only support the line-of-sight transmitting function

For another example, when the line-of-sight receiving unit and the line-of-sight transmitting unit are disposed on the electronic shelf label 10, the electronic shelf label 10 can support the line-of-sight transmitting/receiving function.

Accordingly, the electronic shelf labels 10 can be classified into at least the following three types according to the visual range communication function that each electronic shelf label 10 can support:

the first type of electronic shelf labels can be used for receiving identification information sent by a first target electronic shelf label 10 in a line-of-sight range based on line-of-sight communication; and transmits the identification information of itself and the identification information of the first target electronic tag 10 to the server 11 as relative position data.

The second type of electronic shelf label may be used to send its own identification information to a second target electronic shelf label 10 within a line of sight range based on line of sight communication when a triggering event occurs.

The third type of electronic shelf label can be used for sending the identification information of the third type of electronic shelf label to a second target electronic shelf label 10 in the line-of-sight range based on line-of-sight communication when a triggering event occurs, and receiving the identification information sent by the first target electronic shelf label 10 in the line-of-sight range based on line-of-sight communication; and transmits the identification information of itself and the identification information of the first target electronic tag 10 to the server 11 as relative position data.

When the electronic shelf labels are supported by hardware, the electronic shelf labels can transmit identification information. The identification information can be equipment identification numbers, identity codes and the like of the electronic shelf labels, and can distinguish different electronic shelf labels based on the identification information. For the first-type and third-type electronic shelf labels, the identification information of other electronic shelf labels in the line-of-sight range can be acquired, and the acquired identification information can effectively represent the relative positions between the electronic shelf labels, so that the first-type and third-type electronic shelf labels can send the identification information of the first-type and third-type electronic shelf labels and the received identification information as relative position data to the server 11, so that the server 11 can determine the relative position relationship between the electronic shelf labels 10.

In this embodiment, when the electronic shelf label 10 sends the relative position data to the server 11, the relative position data can be encrypted and signed, and the server 11 can directly perform operations such as analysis, processing, storage, response and the like on the relative position data, so that it is ensured that all intermediate forwarding devices between the electronic shelf label 10 and the server 11 cannot be eavesdropped, forged and tampered, the security is high, the concurrency performance is good, and a data security basis is laid for the server 11 to check the position relationship.

Accordingly, the server 11 may receive a large amount of relative position data, and may determine the relative position between two electronic shelf labels 10 according to the relative position data, and further determine the actual placement position relationship between the electronic shelf labels 10, and verify the actual placement position relationship between the electronic shelf labels 10. In some practical applications, the server 11 may compare the placement positions of the electronic shelf labels 10 included in the display paper with the determined actual placement position relationship, and locate difference points therefrom, thereby screening out the electronic shelf labels 10 whose placement does not conform to the display drawing.

The server 11 acquires the article information of at least one article associated with each of the electronic shelf labels 10, generates an actual display relationship of each article on the article shelf based on the determined actual placement positional relationship between the plurality of electronic shelf labels 10 and the article information of at least one article associated with each of the electronic shelf labels 10, and verifies the actual display relationship of each article on the article shelf. In some practical applications, the display drawing may further include a placement relationship between the articles on the article shelf, and the server 11 may compare the placement relationship between the articles on the article shelf included in the display drawing with the determined actual display relationship of the articles, and locate a difference point therefrom, thereby screening out the articles whose placement does not conform to the display drawing.

On the goods shelf, the display mode of each goods is various, and each display position can contain at least one goods from the dimension of the display position, when a single display position contains a plurality of goods, the goods can belong to the same goods class, for example, a plurality of bottles of milk A can be placed on one display position; the articles may also belong to different categories of articles, for example, bowls and chopsticks which may be sold in pairs may be placed in one display position. This embodiment is not limited to this.

Therefore, in some practical applications, the electronic shelf label system may further include a handheld terminal, and the handheld terminal is used for collecting item information of any item in an item shelf, including coded information, belonging category and the like; the handheld terminal can also be used for acquiring the identification information of the electronic shelf labels 10 corresponding to the display positions of the articles, and associating and sending the article information and the identification information of the electronic shelf labels 10 to the server 11. The server 11 can obtain the article information of at least one article associated with each electronic shelf label 10, so as to accurately determine the actual display relationship of each article according to the actual placement position relationship among the electronic shelf labels 10 when checking the position relationship of the article shelf.

In this embodiment, the electronic shelf tags 10 disposed on the goods shelf can transmit the identification information based on the line-of-sight communication, and thus a large amount of relative position data that can reflect the positional relationship between each electronic shelf tag 10 and the electronic shelf tags 10 within the line-of-sight range thereof can be obtained. These relative position data are sent to the server 11, and the server 11 can determine the actual placing position relationship among the electronic shelf labels 10 according to the relative position data, and based on this, can determine whether the actual placing position relationship among the electronic shelf labels 10 conforms to the display drawing. Therefore, in the embodiment of the application, mutual positioning between the electronic shelf tags 10 can be realized based on line-of-sight communication, so that the actual placing position relationship between the electronic shelf tags 10 can be accurately determined, further intelligent checking and inspection of the placing condition of the goods shelf can be realized, and the checking efficiency and accuracy can be effectively improved.

In the above or below embodiments, it is possible for each of the electronic shelf labels 10 to support the line-of-sight communication function in a plurality of directions, and for convenience of description, the direction in which the line-of-sight communication function is supported on the electronic shelf label 10 is described as a data transmission direction, for example, when the line-of-sight communication means is disposed on the four upper, lower, left, and right sides of the electronic shelf label 10, the electronic shelf label 10 may support the line-of-sight communication function in the four upper, lower, left, and right data transmission directions thereof. The view distance communication devices configured on the electronic shelf label 10 in different data transmission directions may not be completely the same, and accordingly, the view distance communication functions supported on the electronic shelf label 10 in different data transmission directions may not be completely the same.

For example, the electronic shelf label 10 has a line-of-sight transmitting unit and a line-of-sight receiving unit mounted on both the upper and lower sides of the label, and the label 10 can support a two-way communication mode in both the upper and lower data transmission directions.

For another example, if only the line-of-sight transmitting unit is mounted on the left side surface of the electronic shelf label 10, the electronic shelf label 10 can support only the one-way communication mode in the data transmission direction in the left direction.

For another example, if only the line-of-sight receiving unit is mounted on the right side of the electronic shelf label 10, the electronic shelf label 10 can support only the one-way communication mode in the right data transmission direction.

Accordingly, any two of the electronic shelf labels 10 having overlapping ranges of visibility can adopt the above-mentioned two-way communication mode or one-way communication mode during the visibility communication according to the visibility communication function supported by each of the electronic shelf labels 10.

When any one of the two electronic shelf labels 10 having overlapping sight distance ranges supports only a one-way communication mode in the data transmission direction opposite to the other, the one-way communication mode can be adopted between the two electronic shelf labels 10.

In the one-way communication mode, the two electronic shelf labels 10 can be divided into a sender and a receiver: the sender may send the identification information to the receiver; the receiving party can receive the identification information sent by the sending party without returning the identification information of the receiving party to the sending party.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a communication state of a plurality of electronic shelf labels 10 in a unidirectional communication mode in an electronic shelf label system according to an embodiment. Fig. 2 shows a one-way communication state between a plurality of electronic shelf labels 10 disposed on one shelf, for example, a line-of-sight transmitting unit tx and a line-of-sight receiving unit rx are respectively disposed on opposite sides between an electronic shelf label a and an electronic shelf label B, and only a one-way communication mode can be supported between the two, so that between the electronic shelf labels a and B, a can serve as a transmitting side, B serves as a receiving side, a can transmit its own identification information to B, and B can receive the identification information of a. For another example, between E and D, E may be the sender and D may be the receiver, E may send its own identification information to D, and D may receive the identification information of E. Based on the one-way communication state shown in fig. 2, the electronic shelf label D in fig. 2 may obtain the identification information of the electronic shelf labels C, I and E, and the electronic shelf label D shares its own identification information with the electronic shelf labels H and F, but does not obtain the identification information of any other electronic shelf labels. Thus, the electronic shelf label C in fig. 2 can be classified as the first type of electronic shelf label in the foregoing embodiment, the electronic shelf label G in fig. 2 can be classified as the second type of electronic shelf label in the foregoing embodiment, and the other electronic shelf labels can be classified as the third type of electronic shelf labels.

It should be noted that, although the unidirectional communication paths are marked between all the electronic shelf labels shown in fig. 2, this is only for highlighting the communication status of the unidirectional communication mode, and should not cause a limitation to the protection scope of the present embodiment. It should be understood that, in the present embodiment, for any one electronic shelf label 10, the line-of-sight communication modes adopted in different data transmission directions may not be completely the same, and are not limited to the communication state shown in fig. 2 in which the unidirectional transmission mode is adopted in each data transmission direction.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a process of performing one-way communication between any two electronic shelf labels 10 in the electronic shelf label system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 3, two electronic shelf labels 10 include a sender and a receiver. For the electronic shelf label 10 as the sender, the identification information of itself may be cyclically output in the output time slot. For the electronic shelf label 10 as the receiving party, the line-of-sight receiving function may be activated in the listening time slot to receive the identification information transmitted by the transmitting party.

Wherein, the starting point of the output time slot of the sender is when the trigger event occurs. The triggering event may be that a preset positioning period in the sender arrives, or that a positioning instruction sent by the server 11 is received, and the like, which is not limited in this embodiment, the sender may automatically start the sending operation of the identification information at regular time, or start the sending operation of the identification information according to a related instruction of the server 11.

In addition, the output time slot of the transmitting side is larger than the sleep time slot of the receiving side, and the output time slot of the transmitting side is no longer limited by the listening time slot and the sleep time slot of the electronic shelf 10 itself. . The sleep time slot refers to a period of time during which the electronic shelf label 10 is in a deep sleep state. In this embodiment, in order to reduce the power consumption of the electronic shelf label 10, a timer may be set in the electronic shelf label 10, the electronic shelf label 10 may wake up at the timing of the timer, and enter a listening slot, and in the listening slot, the electronic shelf label 10 may receive data; and the period outside the listening time slot is the sleep time slot, and in the sleep time slot, the current of the electronic shelf label 10 can reach 4uA, which is 3 orders of magnitude lower than the current 5mA in the listening time slot, so that the power consumption can be effectively reduced when the electronic shelf label 10 is in the sleep time slot. In addition, in this embodiment, the length of the listening time slot may be set to be short enough when the working requirement is met, for example, the length of the listening time slot may be shorter than the length of the sleep time slot by 2 to 3 orders of magnitude, which may further reduce the overall power consumption of the electronic shelf label 10.

Based on this, as shown in fig. 3, the sender sends its own identification information in 26s of output time slot in a cyclic manner, and since the sleep time slot of the receiver is 25s, it can be ensured that the receiver can enter the listening time slot at least within the last 1s of the output time slot of the sender, so that the receiver can successfully receive the identification information sent by the sender.

It should be noted that when the receiver senses that the sender is sending the identification information to the receiver, the operating state of the receiver may no longer be controlled by the listening time slot, that is, the receiver may continuously remain in the operating state until the receiver finishes receiving the identification information of the sender, regardless of whether the listening time slot is sufficient for finishing the operation of receiving the identification information of the sender.

Accordingly, in this embodiment, the receiving process of the identification information can be compressed in the normal active period of the electronic shelf label 10, and the receiving process of the identification information does not increase the power consumption of the electronic shelf label 10 in the listening time slot, which can effectively maintain the continuous and stable low power consumption state of the electronic shelf label 10.

In the process of transmitting the identification information by the sender and the receiver, the information format of the identification information is not limited in this embodiment, for example, the identification information may be carried in a data packet for transmission, and of course, the identification information may also be transmitted in other information formats. In one implementation, the sender may split the identification information of the sender into N data segments, where N is a positive integer; determining respective corresponding sequence numbers of the N data segments according to the arrangement sequence of the N data segments; respectively carrying out data coding according to the N data segments and the serial numbers corresponding to the N data segments to obtain N data packets; and sending the N data packets to a receiving party.

As shown in fig. 3, the identification information of the sender is carried in 6 data packets, and the sender can cycle out the 6 data packets sequentially in the output interval. When the receiver enters the listening slot, it may receive the non-first data packet of the 6 data packets first, and in fig. 3, the receiver receives the 1 st data packet first when entering the listening slot, at this time, the receiver may continue to receive the subsequent data packets of the sender, that is, the 2 nd to 6 th data packets, until the receiving of the 6 data packets is completed. For the receiver, it can determine whether the receiving of all the data packets is completed according to the sequence number in each data packet. After the receiving work of the data packet is finished, the receiver can inform the sender that the receiving work is finished, and the sender stops outputting the data packet; of course, the receiver may not notify the sender, and the sender will stop outputting the data packet after the output time slot is over.

Fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a data packet according to an embodiment. As shown in fig. 4, each packet may contain a start bit, a sequence number, and a data segment. The figure takes "11" as a start bit, followed by a sequence number, which is used to characterize the position of the current data segment in the identification information, followed by the data segment. Parity bits may also be included in the data packet for checking the integrity of the data packet. The end of the data packet may also be characterized by a blanking interval after the data segment to achieve fragmentation.

In the process of performing unidirectional communication between two electronic shelf labels 10 in fig. 3, a data packet structure as shown in fig. 4 is adopted. In fig. 3, the identification information of the sender is 0X112233445566, the sender splits the identification information into 6 data segments "11", "22", "33", "44", "55" and "66", and determines the sequence number corresponding to each data segment according to the arrangement order of the 6 data segments, and accordingly, the bytes included in the first data packet at least include: 11000000010001, the second packet includes at least the following bytes: 11000100100010, and similarly, the other packets will not be described again.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a line-of-sight communication encoding protocol according to an embodiment. As shown in fig. 5, according to the data packet structure of fig. 4, the line-of-sight transmitting unit of the electronic tag 10 may output PWM pulses and transmit data packets according to manchester coding, that is, a logic 1 and a logic 0 in the data packet are represented by a change in level to form a data stream, so as to implement line-of-sight transmission of the data packets. Of course, the present embodiment is not limited thereto.

Accordingly, one-way communication between the two electronic shelf labels 10 can be achieved. In the one-way communication mode, the electronic shelf label 10 as the receiving side may transmit its own identification information and the received identification information to the server 11 after receiving the identification information transmitted from the electronic shelf label 10 as the transmitting side. Referring to fig. 3, the electronic shelf label 10 as the receiving party may receive a plurality of identification information, for example, the electronic shelf label D in fig. 3 may receive 3 identification information, in which case the electronic shelf label D may transmit all the received identification information to the server 11.

When the two electronic shelf labels 10 with the overlapped sight distance ranges support the two-way communication mode in the data transmission direction opposite to the other side, the two electronic shelf labels 10 can also adopt the two-way communication mode.

In the two-way communication mode, the two electronic shelf labels 10 can communicate identification information with each other.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a communication state of a plurality of electronic shelf labels 10 in a bidirectional communication mode in an electronic shelf label system according to an embodiment. Fig. 6 shows a two-way communication state between a plurality of electronic shelf labels 10 disposed on one shelf, for example, a line-of-sight transmitting unit tx and a line-of-sight receiving unit rx are disposed on opposite sides between an electronic shelf label a and an electronic shelf label B, and a two-way communication mode can be supported between the two, so that between the electronic shelf labels a and B, a can transmit its own identification information to B, and B can receive the identification information of a; meanwhile, B may transmit its own identification information to a, and a may receive the identification information of B. Based on the two-way communication status shown in fig. 6, the electronic shelf label D in fig. 6 can obtain the identification information of the electronic shelf labels C, I and E, and the electronic shelf label D simultaneously shares its own identification information with the electronic shelf labels C, I and E. Thus, all of the electronic shelf labels 10 of FIG. 6 may be categorized as the third category of electronic shelf labels described above.

Also, it should be noted that although the bidirectional communication path is marked between all the electronic shelf labels shown in fig. 6, this is only for highlighting the communication status of the bidirectional communication mode, and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present embodiment. It should be understood that, in the present embodiment, for any one electronic shelf label 10, the line-of-sight communication modes adopted in different data transmission directions may not be completely the same, and are not limited to the communication state shown in fig. 6 in which the bidirectional transmission mode is adopted in each data transmission direction.

In addition, in this embodiment, in order to improve the adaptability of the electronic shelf label system to different application scenarios, the line-of-sight communication mode adopted between two electronic shelf labels 10 whose line-of-sight ranges are overlapped may be automatically determined based on the actual placement position relationship between the electronic shelf labels 10 in the electronic shelf label system and the line-of-sight communication mode supported by each electronic shelf label 10, for example, in the actual placement relationship, the line-of-sight ranges of the electronic shelf label a and the electronic shelf label b are overlapped, and if the hardware structures on the opposite sides of the two can only support the one-way communication mode, the one-way communication mode is automatically adopted between the two; if the hardware structures on the opposite side surfaces of the two can support the two-way communication mode, the two automatically adopt the two-way communication mode; if the hardware structures on the two opposite sides cannot support any communication mode, for example, if the line-of-sight receiving units are disposed on the two opposite sides, line-of-sight communication between the two opposite sides cannot be performed. Of course, the embodiment is not limited to the implementation manner of automatically determining the viewing distance communication mode, in this embodiment, the viewing distance communication mode of each electronic shelf label in each data transmission direction may also be marked in the display paper, and the staff may perform installation of the electronic shelf labels according to the display paper, so that each electronic shelf label communicates according to the viewing distance communication mode marked in the display paper; and the line-of-sight communication modes of the electronic shelf labels in different data transmission directions can be adjusted as required in a mode that the server sends a mode control instruction to the electronic shelf labels, and the like.

Fig. 7 is a schematic process diagram of two-way communication between any two electronic shelf labels 10 in the electronic shelf label system according to an embodiment of the present application.

As shown in fig. 7, either one of the two electronic shelf labels 10 may be set as an initiator and the other as a responder. For the initiator, when a trigger event occurs, the information interaction request can be circularly output in the output time slot until the agreement indication sent by the responder is received, and the identification information can be exchanged with the responder when the agreement indication sent by the responder is received. For the responder, the line-of-sight receiving function can be started in the interception time slot to receive the information interaction request sent by the sender; and when receiving the information interaction request, sending an agreement indication to the initiator so as to exchange identification information with the initiator.

Wherein, the starting point of the output time slot of the initiator is when the trigger event occurs. The triggering event may be that a preset positioning period in the initiator arrives, or that a positioning instruction sent by the server 11 is received, and the like, which is not limited in this embodiment, the initiator may automatically start the sending operation of the information interaction request at regular time, or start the sending operation of the information interaction request according to a related instruction of the server 11.

In addition, the output time slot of the initiator is larger than the sleep time slot of the responder, and the output time slot of the initiator is no longer limited by the listening time slot and the sleep time slot of the electronic shelf tag 10 itself. For the related description of the listening time slot and the sleeping time slot of the electronic shelf label 10, reference is made to the foregoing description, and no further description is provided herein.

Based on this, as shown in fig. 6, the initiator sends the information interaction request in 26s of the output time slot, and since the sleep time slot of the responder is 25s, it can be ensured that the responder can enter the listening time slot at least within the last 1s of the output time slot of the initiator, so that the responder can successfully receive the information interaction request sent by the initiator. When receiving the information interaction request of the initiator, the responder can transmit back an agreement indication to the initiator, so that an identification information exchange channel between the two parties is established, and the two parties can exchange identification information by using the identification information exchange channel.

It should be noted that, after the initiator and the responder establish the identification information exchange channel, the operating state of the initiator may not be limited by the output timeslot any more, and the operating state of the responder may not be limited by the listening timeslot any more. That is, no matter whether the output time slot of the initiator and the listening time slot of the responder are enough for completing the work of receiving the identification information of the sender, both sides can be continuously kept in the working state until the exchange of the identification information is completed.

In the process of transmitting the identification information between the initiator and the responder, the information format of the identification information is not limited in this embodiment, for example, the identification information may be carried in a data packet for transmission, and of course, the identification information may also be transmitted in other information formats. In one implementation, both the initiator and the responder can split the identification information of the initiator and the responder into N data segments, wherein N is a positive integer; determining respective corresponding sequence numbers of the N data segments according to the arrangement sequence of the N data segments; respectively carrying out data coding according to the N data segments and the serial numbers corresponding to the N data segments to generate N data packets; both parties can exchange the N packets generated separately.

Based on the N data packets generated by the two parties, the initiator may carry its first data packet in the information exchange request, and the responder may carry its first data packet in the agreement indication. Thus, the two parties can confirm the establishment of the identification information exchange channel by exchanging the first data packet, and then the two parties can exchange the respective remaining N-1 data packets.

For example, as shown in fig. 7, the identification information of the initiator is carried in 6 data packets, and the initiator may cyclically output its 1 st data packet in the output slot. When the responder enters the interception time slot, the responder may receive the first data packet of the initiator, and at this time, the responder may reply the first data packet to the initiator, so far, the responder may successfully establish an identification information exchange channel and exchange the remaining 5 data packets.

For the remaining N-1 packets, the two parties can exchange packets one by one in the order of the packets as shown in fig. 7. Of course, the two parties may exchange the remaining N-1 packets in other manners, which is not limited in this embodiment. For example, the responder may send its remaining N-1 packets to the initiator after all of the remaining N-1 packets from the initiator have been received.

The initiator and the responder can judge whether the receiving work of all the data packets is finished according to the sequence numbers in the data packets. After the receiving work of the data packet is finished, the two parties stop outputting the data packet. In addition, the structure, encoding protocol, and the like of the data packet in the process of exchanging the identification information between the two parties may refer to the description in the foregoing, and are not described herein again.

Accordingly, two-way communication between the two electronic shelf labels 10 can be achieved. In the bidirectional communication mode, both sides can acquire identification information of the other side and send the identification information to the server 11. Referring to fig. 6, each electronic shelf label 10 may receive a plurality of identification information, for example, the electronic shelf label I in fig. 6 may receive 4 identification information, in which case the electronic shelf label I may transmit all the received identification information to the server 11.

It should be noted that fig. 2 and fig. 6 respectively show the communication states of the electronic shelf labels 10 in the two-way communication mode. However, this does not mean that only one communication mode can exist among the plurality of electronic shelf labels 10, and the communication mode can be flexibly set between any two electronic shelf labels 10 with overlapping visual range in the plurality of electronic shelf labels 10. For example, a one-way communication mode may be employed between a and B in fig. 2, while a two-way communication mode may be employed between a and H in fig. 2.

Fig. 8 is a schematic flowchart of a position relationship checking method according to another embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 8, the method is applicable to an electronic shelf label, and the method comprises the following steps:

100. receiving identification information sent by a first target electronic shelf label in a line-of-sight range based on line-of-sight communication;

101. and sending the identification information of the server and the identification information of the first target electronic shelf label as relative position data to the server so that the server can check the relationship of the placing positions of the electronic shelf labels according to the relative position data.

The positional relationship checking method provided in this embodiment may be applied to various scenes that need to perform positional relationship checking, for example, checking positional relationship of articles in a large storage place, checking positional relationship of electronic shelf labels, and the like, which is not limited in this embodiment.

In this embodiment, the electronic shelf label is disposed in the article shelf, and may form an electronic shelf label system with other electronic shelf labels in the article shelf and the server. The installation position of the electronic shelf label on the goods shelf can correspond to a display position on the goods shelf, and the arrangement position of the electronic shelf label on the goods shelf can be flexibly adjusted. In some practical applications, a manager can use an auxiliary means of display management software to pre-design a display drawing, so that the display drawing represents a deployment structure of each electronic shelf label on an article shelf in the electronic shelf label system, and a worker can deploy the electronic shelf labels according to the display drawing.

In order to realize the line-of-sight transmission, the electronic shelf label can be provided with a line-of-sight communication device, and the electronic shelf label can utilize the line-of-sight communication device to perform line-of-sight communication with the electronic shelf label in the line-of-sight range of the electronic shelf label. In this embodiment, the electronic shelf may receive, based on the line-of-sight communication, the identification information sent by the first target electronic shelf label within the line-of-sight range, and send the identification information of the electronic shelf and the identification information of the first target electronic shelf label as relative position data to the server.

When the electronic shelf label sends the relative position data to the server, the relative position data can be encrypted and signed, and the server can directly analyze, process, store, respond and the like the relative position data, so that all intermediate forwarding devices between the electronic shelf label and the server cannot be eavesdropped, forged and falsified, the safety is high, the concurrency performance is good, and a data safety foundation is laid for the server to check the position relation.

Accordingly, the server can receive a large amount of relative position data, and can determine the relative position between every two electronic shelf labels through the relative position data, further determine the actual placing position relation between the electronic shelf labels, and verify the actual placing position relation between the electronic shelf labels. In some practical applications, the server can compare the deployment structures of the electronic shelf labels contained in the display paper on the goods shelf with the determined actual placement position relationship, and position difference points from the deployment structures, so that the electronic shelf labels which are placed and do not conform to the display drawings are screened out.

In this embodiment, the electronic shelf label may receive, based on the line-of-sight communication, the identification information sent by the other electronic shelf labels within the line-of-sight range thereof, and may send the identification information of the electronic shelf label itself and the received identification information to the server, so that the server may obtain the relative position data that may reflect the positional relationship between the electronic shelf label and the other electronic shelf labels within the line-of-sight range thereof. The server can determine the actual placing position relation between the electronic shelf label and other electronic shelves according to the relative position data, and based on the actual placing position relation, whether the actual placing position of the electronic shelf label accords with the display drawing can be judged. Therefore, in the embodiment of the application, mutual positioning between the electronic shelf labels can be realized based on line-of-sight communication, so that the actual placing position relation between the electronic shelf labels can be accurately determined, intelligent checking and checking of the placing condition of the goods shelf can be realized, and the checking efficiency and accuracy can be effectively improved.

In the above or following embodiments, the electronic shelf label may further monitor a preset trigger event, and send its identification information to a second target electronic shelf label within the line of sight range based on line-of-sight communication when the trigger event occurs.

The triggering event may be that a preset positioning period in the electronic shelf label arrives, or that a positioning instruction issued by the server is received, and the like, which is not limited in this embodiment. The electronic shelf label can automatically start the sending operation of the identification information at regular time and can also start the sending operation of the identification information according to the related instruction of the server.

For the electronic shelf label, it is possible to support the line-of-sight communication function in a plurality of directions, and for convenience of description, the direction in which the line-of-sight communication function is supported on the electronic shelf label is described as a data transmission direction, for example, when the line-of-sight communication means is provided on four sides of the electronic shelf label, the electronic shelf label may support the line-of-sight communication function in four data transmission directions of the top, bottom, left, and right sides thereof. The electronic shelf label can be configured with different visual range communication devices in different data transmission directions, and correspondingly, the visual range communication functions supported by the electronic shelf label in different data transmission directions can also be not identical.

For example, the electronic shelf label is provided with a sight distance sending unit and a sight distance receiving unit on the upper side and the lower side, and the electronic shelf label can support a two-way communication mode in the upper data transmission direction and the lower data transmission direction.

For another example, if only the line-of-sight transmitting unit is mounted on the left side surface of the electronic shelf label, the electronic shelf label can support only the one-way communication mode in the data transmission direction in the left direction.

Therefore, when the communication mode of the electronic shelf label in a certain data transmission direction is a one-way communication mode, the electronic shelf label is used as one end of the data transmission, and the identification information is transmitted between the electronic shelf label and the other end of the data transmission. For convenience of description, the electronic shelf labels at the two ends of the data transmission are respectively referred to as a sender and a receiver, where the electronic shelf label in this embodiment may be used as the sender or the receiver. The communication procedure of the transmitting side and the receiving side will be described in detail below.

In the one-way communication mode, the sender may send the identification information to the receiver; the receiving party can receive the identification information sent by the sending party without returning the identification information of the receiving party to the sending party. Therefore, when the electronic shelf label is used as a receiver and the electronic shelf label is in a one-way communication mode, the sight distance receiving function can be started in the interception time slot so as to receive the identification information sent by the sender; when the electronic shelf label is used as a sender, the identification information of the electronic shelf label can be circularly output in the output time slot so that the receiver can receive the identification information, wherein when the starting point of the output time slot is the trigger event, the output time slot is larger than the sleep time slot of the receiver.

In addition, when the electronic shelf signs as a sender, the output time slot is larger than the sleep time slot of a receiver, and the output time slot is not limited by the listening time slot and the sleep time slot of the electronic shelf. The sleep time slot refers to a period when the electronic shelf label is in a deep sleep state. In this embodiment, in order to reduce the power consumption of the electronic shelf label, a timer may be set in the electronic shelf label, the electronic shelf label may wake up at the timing of the timer, wake up at the timing, enter the listening slot, and receive data in the listening slot; and the period outside the listening time slot is the sleeping time slot, and in the sleeping time slot, the current of the electronic shelf label can reach 4uA, which is 3 orders of magnitude lower than the current 5mA in the listening time slot, so that the power consumption can be effectively reduced when the electronic shelf label is in the sleeping time slot. In addition, in the embodiment, under the condition that the working requirement is met, the length of the listening time slot can be set to be short enough, for example, the length of the listening time slot can be shorter than that of the sleeping time slot by 2-3 orders of magnitude, so that the overall power consumption of the electronic shelf label can be further reduced.

Based on this, the output time slot of the electronic shelf label as the sender is larger than the dormancy time slot of the receiver, which can ensure that the receiver can enter the interception time slot in the output time slot of the sender, so that the receiver can successfully receive the identification information sent by the sender.

It should be noted that when the electronic shelf label is used as a receiver to sense that the sender is sending the identification information to the electronic shelf label, the operating state of the electronic shelf label may no longer be controlled by the sensing time slot, that is, the electronic shelf label may be kept in the operating state until the receiving operation of the identification information of the sender is completed, regardless of whether the sensing time slot is enough to complete the operation of receiving the identification information of the sender.

Accordingly, in this embodiment, the receiving process of the identification information can be compressed in the normal active period of the electronic shelf label, and the power consumption of the electronic shelf label in the listening time slot is not increased in the receiving process of the identification information, so that the continuous and stable low power consumption state of the electronic shelf label can be effectively maintained.

In the process of transmitting the identification information by the electronic shelf label, the information format of the identification information is not limited in this embodiment, for example, the identification information may be carried in a data packet for transmission, and of course, the identification information may also be transmitted in other information formats. In one implementation, when the electronic shelf label is used as a sender, the identification information of the electronic shelf label can be split into N data segments, wherein N is a positive integer; determining respective corresponding sequence numbers of the N data segments according to the arrangement sequence of the N data segments; respectively carrying out data coding according to the N data segments and the serial numbers corresponding to the N data segments to obtain N data packets; and sending the N data packets to a receiving party. Similarly, when the electronic shelf label is used as a receiving party, the N data packets sent by the sending party can be received and sent.

For example, when the electronic shelf label is used as a sender, the identification information may be split into 6 data segments to generate 6 data packets, and the electronic shelf label may output the 6 data packets cyclically in sequence in the output interval. When the receiver enters the listening time slot, the receiver may receive the non-first data packet of the 6 data packets first, and at this time, the receiver may continue to receive the subsequent data packets of the sender, that is, the 1 st to 5 th data packets, until the receiving of the 6 data packets is completed. When the electronic shelf label is used as a receiver, whether the receiving work of all the data packets is finished or not can be judged according to the serial numbers in the data packets, after the receiving work of the data packets is finished, the electronic shelf label can inform a sender that the receiving work is finished, and the sender stops outputting the data packets; of course, the electronic shelf label may not notify the sender, and the sender will stop outputting the data packet after the output time slot is over.

In some implementations, each packet may include a start bit, a sequence number, and a data segment. The start bit is followed by a sequence number, which is used to characterize the position of the current data segment in the identification information, and the sequence number is followed by the data segment. Parity bits may also be included in the data packet for checking the integrity of the data packet. The end of the data packet may also be characterized by a blanking interval after the data segment to achieve fragmentation.

For example, the identification information of the electronic shelf label is 0X112233445566, and when the electronic shelf label is used as a sender, the identification information can be divided into 6 data segments "11", "22", "33", "44", "55" and "66", and the sequence number corresponding to each data segment can be determined according to the arrangement order of the 6 data segments, so that at least the bytes contained in the first data packet include: 11000000010001, the second packet includes at least the following bytes: 11000100100010, and similarly, the other packets will not be described again.

When the electronic shelf label is used as a sender, the electronic shelf label can communicate with a receiver according to an agreed communication coding protocol. The electronic tag can adopt PWM pulse output and transmits a data packet according to a Manchester coding mode, namely, a logic 1 and a logic 0 in the data packet are represented by the change of the level to form a data stream, so that the line-of-sight transmission of the data packet is realized. Of course, the present embodiment is not limited thereto.

Therefore, the one-way communication between the electronic shelf label and the electronic shelf label within the sight distance range can be realized. In the one-way communication mode, when the electronic shelf label is used as a receiver, after the identification information sent by the electronic shelf label used as a sender is received, the identification information of the electronic shelf label and the received identification information can be sent to the server. The electronic shelf label may receive a plurality of identification information as a receiver, in which case the electronic shelf label may send all the received identification information to the server.

When the communication mode of the electronic shelf label in a certain data transmission direction is a bidirectional communication mode, the electronic shelf label exchanges identification information with the electronic shelf labels in the line-of-sight range of the electronic shelf label in the data transmission direction. For convenience of description, the electronic shelf labels at two ends of the bidirectional communication are respectively called a sending party and a receiving party, wherein the electronic shelf label in the embodiment can be used as an initiating party of the bidirectional communication, that is, a party starting the bidirectional communication, and also can be used as a responding party. The procedure of the two-way communication between the initiator and the responder will be described in detail below.

In the two-way communication mode, the two electronic shelf labels can mutually transmit identification information. When the electronic shelf label is used as a responder, the electronic shelf label can start a sight distance receiving function in a monitoring time slot so as to receive an information interaction request sent by an initiator in a sight distance range; sending an agreement indication to the initiator to establish an identification information exchange channel with the initiator; and exchanging identification information with the initiator by using the identification information exchange channel to obtain the identification information of the initiator. When the electronic shelf label is used as an initiator, the electronic shelf label can circularly output the information interaction request in the output time slot, and when the starting point of the output time slot is a trigger event, the output time slot is larger than the dormancy time slot of a responder in the sight distance range; and exchanging identification information with the responder upon receiving an indication of agreement sent by the responder.

Wherein, the starting point of the output time slot of the initiator is when the trigger event occurs. The triggering event may be that a preset positioning period in the initiator arrives, or that a positioning instruction issued by the server is received, and the like.

In addition, when the electronic shelf label is used as an initiator, the output time slot of the electronic shelf label is larger than the sleep time slot of a responder, and the output time slot of the electronic shelf label is not limited by the listening time slot and the sleep time slot of the electronic shelf label. For the related description of the listening time slot and the sleeping time slot of the electronic shelf label, reference is made to the foregoing description, and details are not repeated here.

Based on the method, when the electronic shelf label is used as an initiator, the information interaction request can be sent in a circulating mode in the output time slot, and the sleeping time slot of the responder is smaller than the output time slot of the electronic shelf label, so that the responder can be ensured to enter the monitoring time slot at least in the output time slot of the electronic shelf label, and the responder can successfully receive the information interaction request sent by the electronic shelf label. When the electronic shelf label is used as a responder, the electronic shelf label can transmit an agreement indication back to the initiator when receiving an information interaction request of the initiator, so that an identification information exchange channel between the two parties is established, and the two parties can exchange identification information by using the identification information exchange channel.

It should be noted that after the identification information exchange channel, the operation status of the electronic shelf label may not be limited by the output time slot and/or the listening time slot. That is, whether the output time slot and/or the listening time slot of the electronic shelf label are sufficient for completing the transmission of the identification information, the electronic shelf label can be continuously kept in the working state until the transmission of the identification information is completed.

In the process of transmitting the identification information by the electronic shelf label, the information format of the identification information is not limited in this embodiment, for example, the identification information may be carried in a data packet for transmission, and of course, the identification information may also be transmitted in other information formats. In one implementation, the electronic shelf label can split the identification information of the electronic shelf label into N data segments, wherein N is a positive integer; determining respective corresponding sequence numbers of the N data segments according to the arrangement sequence of the N data segments; respectively carrying out data coding according to the N data segments and the serial numbers corresponding to the N data segments to generate N data packets; the electronic shelf label can exchange N data packets generated by the electronic shelf label in the sight distance range under the two-way communication mode.

When the electronic shelf label is used as an initiator, the electronic shelf label can carry the first data packet of the electronic shelf label in the information exchange request, and when the electronic shelf label is used as a responder, the electronic shelf label can carry the first data packet of the electronic shelf label in the agreement indication. Thus, in the two-way communication mode, the establishment of the identification information exchange channel can be confirmed by exchanging the first data packet, and then the electronic shelf label can exchange the respective remaining N-1 data packets with the electronic shelf labels within the visual range of the electronic shelf label.

For example, the electronic shelf label may split its own identification information into 6 data segments to generate 6 data packets. When the electronic shelf label is used as an initiator, the 1 st data packet can be circularly output in the output interval, and when a responder enters an interception time slot, the first data packet of the initiator can be received, at the moment, the responder can reply the first data packet to the electronic shelf label, so that the two parties can successfully establish an identification information exchange channel and can exchange the respective remaining 5 data packets.

For the remaining N-1 packets, the two parties can exchange packets one by one according to the sequence of the packets. Of course, the two parties may exchange the remaining N-1 packets in other manners, which is not limited in this embodiment. For example, the responder may send its remaining N-1 packets to the initiator after all of the remaining N-1 packets from the initiator have been received.

The electronic shelf label can judge whether the exchange work of all the data packets is finished according to the serial numbers in the data packets. After the exchange of the data packets is completed, the electronic shelf label will stop transmitting the data packets. In addition, the structure and the encoding protocol of the data packet of the electronic shelf label in the bidirectional communication mode may refer to the description in the foregoing, and are not described herein again.

Therefore, the two-way communication between the electronic shelf label and the electronic shelf label within the sight distance range can be realized. In the two-way communication mode, the electronic shelf label can acquire identification information of the other side and send the identification information to the server. Each electronic shelf label may receive multiple identification information, in which case the electronic shelf label may send all of the received identification information to the server.

It is worth noting that although two communication modes of the electronic shelf label are described separately above. However, this does not mean that the electronic shelf label can only adopt one of the communication modes, and different communication modes can be adopted in different data transmission directions of the electronic shelf label, for example, a unidirectional communication mode can be configured between the electronic shelf label a and the electronic shelf label B on the right side of the electronic shelf label a in fig. 2, and a bidirectional communication mode can be configured between the electronic shelf label a and the electronic shelf label H on the lower side of the electronic shelf label a.

In addition, for details of each technique in each embodiment of the position relationship checking method, reference may be made to the related description in the electronic tag system in the foregoing, which is not described herein again, but this should not cause a loss of the protection scope of the present application.

Accordingly, the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, where the computer program is capable of implementing the steps that can be executed by the electronic shelf label in the foregoing method embodiments when executed.

Fig. 9 is a schematic flowchart of another location relationship checking method according to another embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 9, the method is suitable for an electronic shelf label, and comprises the following steps:

200. monitoring a set trigger event;

201. when a trigger event occurs, the identification information of the target electronic shelf label is sent to the target electronic shelf label in the sight distance range based on the sight distance communication, so that the target electronic shelf label sends the identification information of the target electronic shelf label and the received identification information as relative position data to the server, and the server can check the placement position relation of the electronic shelf label according to the relative position data.

In this embodiment, the electronic shelf label is disposed in the article shelf, and may form an electronic shelf label system with other electronic shelf labels in the article shelf and the server, and the electronic shelf label may perform line-of-sight transmission with other electronic shelf labels, and may also communicate with the server. The electronic shelf label can correspond to a display position on the goods shelf, and the arrangement position of the electronic shelf label on the goods shelf can be flexibly adjusted. In some practical applications, a manager can use an auxiliary means of display management software to pre-design a display drawing, so that the display drawing represents a deployment structure of each electronic shelf label on an article shelf, and a worker can deploy the electronic shelf labels according to the display drawing.

In order to realize the line-of-sight transmission, the electronic shelf label can be provided with a line-of-sight communication device, and the electronic shelf label can utilize the line-of-sight communication device to perform line-of-sight communication with the electronic shelf label in the line-of-sight range of the electronic shelf label. In this embodiment, the electronic shelf may send the identification information of itself to the target electronic shelf label within the line of sight range based on the line of sight communication, so that the target electronic shelf label sends the identification information of itself and the received identification information as relative position data to the server, so that the server performs the calibration of the electronic shelf label placement position relationship according to the relative position data.

In the process of transmitting the identification information of the electronic shelf label and the target electronic shelf label within the sight distance range, the electronic shelf label may serve as a sender and adopt a one-way communication mode, and specific processes may refer to the description related to the one-way communication mode in the foregoing embodiments, and are not described herein again.

Fig. 10 is a schematic flowchart of another position relationship checking method according to another embodiment of the present application. A server adapted for use in an electronic shelf label system, as shown in fig. 10, the method comprising:

300. receiving relative position data sent by a plurality of electronic shelf labels, wherein the relative position data comprises identification information of the electronic shelf labels and identification information of the electronic shelf labels within the sight distance range of the electronic shelf labels;

301. and determining the actual placing position relationship among the electronic shelf labels according to the relative position data, and verifying the actual placing position relationship among the electronic shelf labels.

In this embodiment, the plurality of electronic shelf labels may be in communication with the server, wherein the electronic shelf labels may be in wireless or wired network connection with the server. For example, the electronic shelf label and the server may transmit the relative position data through a wireless Access Point (AP). Of course, other network connection modes can be adopted between the electronic shelf label and the server to realize the transmission of the relative position data, such as a mobile network and the like. The network format of the mobile network may be any one of 2G (gsm), 2.5G (gprs), 3G (WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, CDMA2000, UTMS), 4G (LTE), 4G + (LTE +), WiMax, 5G, Bluetooth low energy, and the like.

A plurality of electronic shelf labels are arranged in the goods shelf, each electronic shelf label can correspond to one display position on the goods shelf, and the arrangement structure of the electronic shelf labels on the goods shelf can be flexibly adjusted. In some practical applications, a manager can use an auxiliary means of display management software to pre-design a display drawing, so that the display drawing represents a deployment structure of each electronic shelf label on an article shelf, and a worker can deploy the electronic shelf labels according to the display drawing.

The electronic shelf labels can transmit identification information within respective sight distance range, so that for some electronic shelf labels in the electronic shelf labels, the identification information of other electronic shelf labels within the sight distance range can be acquired, and the electronic shelf labels can transmit the identification information of the electronic shelf labels and the received identification information as relative position data to the server. For the transmission process of the identification information between the electronic shelf labels, reference may be made to the related description in the foregoing embodiments, and details are not repeated here.

In the embodiment, when the electronic shelf label sends the relative position data to the server, the relative position data can be encrypted and signed, and the server can directly analyze, process, store, respond and the like the relative position data, so that all intermediate forwarding devices between the electronic shelf label and the server cannot be eavesdropped, forged and tampered, the safety is high, the concurrency performance is good, and a data safety basis is laid for the server to check the position relation.

Accordingly, the server can receive a large amount of relative position data, and can determine the relative position between every two electronic shelf labels through the relative position data, further determine the actual placing position relation between the electronic shelf labels, and verify the actual placing position relation between the electronic shelf labels. In some practical applications, the server can compare the placing positions among a plurality of electronic shelf labels contained in the display paper with the determined actual placing position relation, and position difference points from the placing positions, so that the electronic shelf labels which are placed and do not conform to the display drawing are screened out.

In addition, the server may acquire article information of at least one article associated with each of the electronic shelf labels 10, generate an actual display relationship of each article on the article shelf based on the determined actual placement positional relationship between the plurality of electronic shelf labels and the article information of the at least one article associated with each of the electronic shelf labels, and verify the actual display relationship of each article on the article shelf. In some practical applications, the display drawing may further include a placement relationship between the articles on the article shelf, and the server may compare the placement relationship between the articles on the article shelf included in the display drawing with the determined actual display relationship of the articles, and locate a difference point therefrom, thereby screening out the articles whose placement does not conform to the display drawing.

Therefore, in some practical applications, the electronic shelf label system may further include a handheld terminal, and the handheld terminal is used for collecting item information of any item in an item shelf, including coded information, belonging category and the like; the handheld terminal can also be used for acquiring the identification information of the electronic shelf labels 10 corresponding to the display positions of the articles, and correlating and sending the article information and the identification information of the electronic shelf labels to the server. The server can obtain the article information of at least one article associated with each electronic shelf label so as to accurately determine the actual display relationship of each article according to the actual placing position relationship among the electronic shelf labels when the position relationship of the article shelf is checked.

In this embodiment, the electronic shelf labels deployed on the shelf of the article can transmit the identification information based on the line-of-sight communication, and this process will generate a large amount of relative position data. The relative position data are sent to the server, the server can determine the actual placing position relation among the electronic shelf labels according to the relative position data, and based on the actual placing position relation, whether the actual placing position relation among the electronic shelf labels accords with the display drawing can be judged. Therefore, in the embodiment of the application, mutual positioning between the electronic shelf labels can be realized based on line-of-sight communication, so that the actual placing position relation between the electronic shelf labels can be accurately determined, intelligent checking and checking of the placing condition of the goods shelf can be realized, and the checking efficiency and accuracy can be effectively improved.

Accordingly, the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, where the computer program can implement the steps that can be executed by the server in the foregoing method embodiments when executed.

It should be noted that in some of the flows described in the above related method embodiments and the accompanying drawings, a plurality of operations are included in a specific order, but it should be clearly understood that these operations may be executed out of the order presented herein or in parallel, and the sequence numbers of the operations, such as 100, 101, etc., are merely used for distinguishing different operations, and the sequence numbers themselves do not represent any execution order. Additionally, the flows may include more or fewer operations, and the operations may be performed sequentially or in parallel. It should be noted that, the descriptions of "first", "second", etc. in this document are used for distinguishing different messages, devices, modules, etc., and do not represent a sequential order, nor limit the types of "first" and "second" to be different.

Fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic shelf label according to another embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 11, the electronic shelf label includes a memory 20, a processor 22, and a line-of-sight communication device 21; the line-of-sight communication means 21 comprises a line-of-sight receiving unit and/or a line-of-sight transmitting unit.

The memory 20 is used for storing computer programs and may be configured to store other various data to support operations on the electronic shelf label. Examples of such data include instructions, messages, pictures, videos, etc. for any application or method operating on the electronic shelf label. The memory may be implemented by any type or combination of volatile or non-volatile memory devices, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic memory, flash memory, magnetic or optical disks.

A processor 22, coupled to the memory 20 and the line-of-sight communication means 21, for executing a computer program in the memory for:

receiving identification information sent by a first target electronic shelf label in a sight distance range by utilizing a sight distance receiving unit; the identification information of the server and the identification information of the first target electronic shelf label are used as relative position data to be sent to the server, so that the server can check the electronic shelf label placement position relation according to the relative position data; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

when a trigger event occurs, the sight distance sending unit is used for sending the identification information of the second electronic shelf label to a second target electronic shelf label in the sight distance range, so that the second electronic shelf label sends the identification information of the second electronic shelf label and the received identification information as relative position data to the server, and the server checks the placement position relation of the electronic shelf labels according to the relative position data.

In an alternative embodiment, the processor 22, when sending the identification information of itself to the second target electronic shelf in the range of sight distance by using the sight distance sending unit, is configured to:

if the target electronic shelf label is in the one-way communication mode, circularly outputting the identification information of the target electronic shelf label in an output time slot, wherein the output time slot is larger than the dormancy time slot of the second target electronic shelf label when the starting point of the output time slot is the trigger event; or

If the target electronic shelf label is in the bidirectional communication mode, circularly outputting the information interaction request in the output time slot, wherein the output time slot is larger than the dormancy time slot of the second target electronic shelf label when the starting point of the output time slot is the trigger event; and exchanging identification information with the second target electronic shelf label when receiving the agreement indication sent by the second target electronic shelf label.

splitting the identification information of the self into N data segments, wherein N is a positive integer;

determining respective corresponding sequence numbers of the N data segments according to the arrangement sequence of the N data segments;

respectively carrying out data coding according to the N data segments and the serial numbers corresponding to the N data segments to obtain N data packets;

and sending the N data packets to a second target electronic shelf label.

In an alternative embodiment, processor 22 is specifically configured to:

if the data packet is in the one-way communication mode, circularly outputting N data packets in the output time slot according to the sequence of the sequence numbers of the N data packets; or

If the data packet is in the bidirectional communication mode, circularly outputting a first data packet in the N data packets in the output time slot; and exchanging the subsequent N-2 data packets with the second target electronic shelf label when the first data packet of the second target electronic shelf label is received.

In an alternative embodiment, the processor 22, when receiving the identification information transmitted by the first target electronic shelf label in the range of line of sight using the line of sight receiving unit, is configured to:

if the target electronic shelf label is in the one-way communication mode, starting a line-of-sight receiving function in a monitoring time slot to receive identification information sent by the first target electronic shelf label; or

If the target electronic shelf label is in the bidirectional communication mode, starting a line-of-sight receiving function in a monitoring time slot to receive an information interaction request sent by the first target electronic shelf label; and sending an indication of consent to the first target electronic shelf label to exchange identification information with the first target electronic shelf label.

In an alternative embodiment, the processor 22, upon sending the indication of consent to the first target electronic shelf sign, is configured to:

and sending the first data packet in the N data packets as an agreement indication to the first target electronic shelf label.

In an alternative embodiment, at least one pair of sight distance transceiving units is arranged on the opposite side surfaces between the electronic shelf label and the electronic shelf label in the sight distance range.

Fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a server according to another embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 12, the server includes a memory 30, a processor 31, and a communication component 32.

The memory 30 is used for storing computer programs and may be configured to store other various data to support operations on the server. Examples of such data include instructions, messages, pictures, videos, etc. for any application or method operating on the server. The memory may be implemented by any type or combination of volatile or non-volatile memory devices, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic memory, flash memory, magnetic or optical disks.

A processor 31, coupled to the memory 30 and the communication component 32, for executing computer programs in the memory for:

receiving, by the communication component 32, relative position data sent by the plurality of electronic shelf labels, where the relative position data includes identification information of the electronic shelf labels themselves and identification information of the electronic shelf labels within the sight distance range thereof;

In an alternative embodiment, the processor 31 is further configured to:

acquiring article information of at least one article respectively associated with a plurality of electronic shelf labels;

generating an actual display relation of each article in the article shelf according to the actual placing position relation among the electronic shelf labels and the article information of at least one article associated with each electronic shelf label;

and verifying the actual display relation of each article in the article shelf according to the preset article display relation.

Further, as shown in fig. 12, the server further includes: power supply components 33, and the like. Only some of the components are schematically shown in fig. 12, and the server is not meant to include only the components shown in fig. 12.

Wherein the communication component 32 is configured to facilitate wired or wireless communication between the device in which the communication component is located and other devices. The device in which the communication component is located may access a wireless network based on a communication standard, such as WiFi, 3G or 3G, or a combination thereof. In an exemplary embodiment, the communication component receives a broadcast signal or broadcast related information from an external broadcast management system via a broadcast channel. In one exemplary embodiment, the communication component may be implemented based on Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, infrared data association (IrDA) technology, Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology, Bluetooth (BT) technology, or other technology to facilitate short-range communications.

The power supply unit 33 supplies power to various components of the device in which the power supply unit is installed. The power components may include a power management system, one or more power supplies, and other components associated with generating, managing, and distributing power for the device in which the power component is located.

It should be noted that, for the technical details in the foregoing related embodiments of the position relationship checking method, the electronic shelf label and the server, reference may be made to the relevant descriptions in the electronic shelf label system in this document.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, embodiments of the present invention may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The present invention is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

In a typical configuration, a computing device includes one or more processors (CPUs), input/output interfaces, network interfaces, and memory.

The memory may include forms of volatile memory in a computer readable medium, Random Access Memory (RAM) and/or non-volatile memory, such as Read Only Memory (ROM) or flash memory (flash RAM). Memory is an example of a computer-readable medium.

Computer-readable media, including both non-transitory and non-transitory, removable and non-removable media, may implement information storage by any method or technology. The information may be computer readable instructions, data structures, modules of a program, or other data. Examples of computer storage media include, but are not limited to, phase change memory (PRAM), Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), other types of Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM), Digital Versatile Discs (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other non-transmission medium that can be used to store information that can be accessed by a computing device. As defined herein, a computer readable medium does not include a transitory computer readable medium such as a modulated data signal and a carrier wave.

It should also be noted that the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising an … …" does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.

The above description is only an example of the present application and is not intended to limit the present application. Various modifications and changes may occur to those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present application should be included in the scope of the claims of the present application.

Claims

1. An electronic shelf label system, comprising: a server and a plurality of electronic shelf labels deployed in an item shelf;

each electronic shelf label in the at least one electronic shelf label is used for receiving identification information sent by a first target electronic shelf label in a line-of-sight range based on line-of-sight communication; sending the identification information of the server and the identification information of the first target electronic shelf label to the server as relative position data; and/or when a trigger event occurs, sending the identification information of the second target electronic shelf label to a second target electronic shelf label within a line-of-sight range based on line-of-sight communication, so that the second target electronic shelf label sends the identification information of the second target electronic shelf label and the received identification information as relative position data to the server;

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to:

acquiring article information of at least one article respectively associated with the plurality of electronic shelf labels;

generating an actual display relation of each article in the article shelf according to the actual placing position relation among the plurality of electronic shelf labels and the article information of at least one article associated with each electronic shelf label;

3. The system of claim 1, wherein each electronic shelf label of the at least one electronic shelf label, when sending its own identification information to a second target electronic shelf label within the line of sight, is specifically configured to:

if the target electronic shelf label is in the one-way communication mode, circularly outputting identification information of the target electronic shelf label in an output time slot, wherein the starting point of the output time slot is a dormant time slot of the second target electronic shelf label when the trigger event occurs; or

If the target electronic shelf label is in the bidirectional communication mode, circularly outputting an information interaction request in an output time slot, wherein the starting point of the output time slot is the dormancy time slot of the second target electronic shelf label when the trigger event occurs; and exchanging identification information with the second target electronic shelf label when receiving an agreement instruction sent by the second target electronic shelf label.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein each of the at least one electronic shelf labels, when sending its own identification information to a second target electronic shelf label within the line-of-sight range, is configured to:

and sending the N data packets to the second target electronic shelf label.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein each electronic shelf label of the at least one electronic shelf label is specifically configured to:

if the data packet is in the one-way communication mode, circularly outputting the N data packets in an output time slot according to the sequence of the sequence numbers of the N data packets; or

If the data packet is in the bidirectional communication mode, circularly outputting a first data packet in the N data packets in an output time slot; and exchanging subsequent N-1 data packets with the second target electronic shelf label when the first data packet of the second target electronic shelf label is received.

6. The system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein each electronic shelf label of the at least one electronic shelf label, when receiving the identification information transmitted by the first target electronic shelf label within the line of sight range, is configured to:

if the target electronic shelf label is in the one-way communication mode, starting a line-of-sight receiving function in a monitoring time slot to receive the identification information sent by the first target electronic shelf label; or

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of electronic shelf labels are mounted on the item shelves in rows and/or columns, wherein a mounting location of each electronic shelf label corresponds to one display location of the item shelf.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein at least one pair of line-of-sight transceiver units are disposed on opposite sides of two adjacent electronic shelf labels.

9. A position relation checking method is suitable for an electronic shelf label and is characterized by comprising the following steps:

10. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving identification information transmitted by a first target electronic shelf tag within a line-of-sight range based on line-of-sight communication comprises:

If the target electronic shelf label is in the bidirectional communication mode, starting a line-of-sight receiving function in a monitoring time slot to receive an information interaction request sent by the first target electronic shelf label; sending an agreement instruction to the first target electronic shelf label to establish an identification information exchange channel with the first target electronic shelf label; and exchanging identification information with the first target electronic shelf label by using the identification information exchange channel so as to obtain the identification information of the first target electronic shelf label.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said sending an indication of consent to the first target electronic shelf label comprises:

splitting the identification information of the user into N data segments;

and carrying the first data packet in the N data packets in the agreement indication and sending the agreement indication to the first target electronic shelf label.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the information exchange request sent by the first target electronic shelf label includes a first data packet of the first target electronic shelf label, and the exchanging identification information with the first target electronic shelf label by using the identification information exchange channel includes:

and exchanging subsequent N-1 data packets with the first target electronic tag by using the identification information exchange channel.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

monitoring a preset trigger event;

and when the triggering event is monitored to occur, sending the identification information of the second electronic shelf label to a second target electronic shelf label in a line-of-sight range based on line-of-sight communication, so that the second electronic shelf label sends the identification information of the second electronic shelf label and the received identification information as the relative position data to the server.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the sending the identification information of the target electronic shelf within the line-of-sight range to a second target electronic shelf within the line-of-sight range based on the line-of-sight communication comprises:

15. A position relation checking method is suitable for an electronic shelf label and is characterized by comprising the following steps:

monitoring a set trigger event;

16. The method of claim 15, wherein sending the identification information of the target electronic shelf to the target electronic shelf within the line-of-sight range comprises:

and circularly outputting the identification information of the target electronic shelf label in an output time slot, wherein the starting point of the output time slot is the dormant time slot of the target electronic shelf label when the trigger event occurs.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein sending the identification information of the target electronic shelf to the target electronic shelf within the line-of-sight range comprises:

and sending the N data packets to the target electronic shelf label.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the sending the identification information of the target electronic shelf label to the target electronic shelf label within the line-of-sight range specifically comprises:

and circularly outputting the N data packets in the output time slot according to the sequence of the sequence numbers of the N data packets.

19. A position relation checking method is suitable for a server and is characterized by comprising the following steps:

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the server is further configured to:

21. An electronic shelf label comprising a memory, a processor and a line-of-sight communication device; the line-of-sight communication device comprises a line-of-sight receiving unit and/or a line-of-sight transmitting unit;

the memory is to store one or more computer instructions;

22. The electronic shelf label of claim 21, wherein the processor, when transmitting its own identification information to a second target electronic shelf label within a line of sight range using the line of sight transmitting unit, is configured to:

23. The electronic shelf label of claim 22, wherein the processor, when transmitting its own identification information to a second target electronic shelf label within a line of sight range using the line of sight transmitting unit, is configured to:

and sending the N data packets to the second target electronic shelf label.

24. The electronic shelf label of claim 23, wherein the processor is specifically configured to:

25. The electronic shelf label according to any of claims 21-24, wherein the processor, when receiving the identification information transmitted by the first target electronic shelf label within a line of sight range using the line of sight receiving unit, is configured to:

26. The electronic shelf label according to claim 25, wherein at least one pair of line-of-sight transceiver units are disposed on opposite sides of the electronic shelf label from the electronic shelf label within its line-of-sight range.

27. A server comprising a memory, a processor, and a communication component;

the memory is to store one or more computer instructions;

28. The server according to claim 27, wherein the processor is further configured to:

29. A computer-readable storage medium storing computer instructions, which when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the positional relationship checking method of any one of claims 9-14.

30. A computer-readable storage medium storing computer instructions, which when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the positional relationship checking method of any one of claims 15-18.

31. A computer-readable storage medium storing computer instructions, which when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the positional relationship checking method of any one of claims 19-20.