CN114339981A

CN114339981A - Mobile communication device, intelligent shopping cart and electronic price tag data synchronization method

Info

Publication number: CN114339981A
Application number: CN202111646079.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘昌瑜
Original assignee: Nubia Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Nubia Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-12-30
Filing date: 2021-12-30
Publication date: 2022-04-12

Abstract

The invention discloses a mobile communication device, an intelligent shopping cart and an electronic price tag data synchronization method, wherein the mobile communication device is loaded on the shopping cart, and because a consumer can pass through at least part of a goods shelf in a short distance when carrying the shopping cart to move in a shopping mall, the mobile communication device can also communicate with an electronic price tag on the goods shelf under a short-distance condition so as to synchronize price tag data information with the electronic price tag and improve the success rate of price tag data information synchronization; meanwhile, as the shopping carts are usually put in a large number of shopping malls, different consumers carry the shopping carts to shop in the shopping malls along different paths, and meanwhile, price tag data information synchronization of electronic price tags in different areas is realized, so that the consistency of price information displayed by the electronic price tags and price information in a server is improved under the condition that data synchronization between the server and the electronic price tags based on a fixed base station is unsuccessful, and normal operation of the shopping malls is realized on the basis of not increasing the labor cost.

Description

Mobile communication device, intelligent shopping cart and electronic price tag data synchronization method

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of data synchronization, in particular to a mobile communication device, an intelligent shopping cart and an electronic price tag data synchronization method.

Background

An Electronic price tag, also called an Electronic Shelf Label (ESL), is an Electronic display device with an information transceiving function, and is mainly applied to places such as supermarkets, convenience stores, pharmacies and the like to display commodity price information. The electronic price tag is placed on the goods shelf, can replace the traditional paper price tag, and is connected with the market server through the network, so when the price information of the commodity needs to be updated, only the corresponding price information in the server database needs to be modified, the situation that the price tag is manually replaced is avoided, and meanwhile, the price consistency between the cashier desk and the goods shelf is ensured in a more convenient mode.

In a large-scale shopping mall such as a supermarket, the electronic price tag basically communicates with a server in a wireless manner, and a common method is to arrange a base station in some areas of the shopping mall, to realize communication between the electronic price tag and the server by using the base station, and further to realize synchronization of price tag data information. However, the communication quality of wireless communication is affected by factors such as communication distance and external interference, so in some cases, a problem of synchronization failure may occur when the server performs data synchronization on the electronic price tag, which may cause inconsistency between price information displayed by the electronic price tag and the database of the server, and cause troubles to consumers and management of shopping malls.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to solve the technical problem that price information displayed by an electronic price tag is inconsistent with that of a server side under the condition that the price tag data synchronization between the server and the electronic price tag based on wireless communication is unsuccessful, and provides a mobile communication device, an intelligent shopping cart and an electronic price tag data synchronization method.

In order to solve the technical problem, the invention provides a mobile communication device configured to be loaded on a shopping cart, the mobile communication device comprising a controller, a server communication unit and an electronic price tag communication unit, wherein the server communication unit and the electronic price tag communication unit are both in communication connection with the controller and are respectively used for communicating with the server and the electronic price tag under the control of the controller;

the server communication unit is used for acquiring price tag data information corresponding to the electronic price tag from the server;

and the electronic price tag communication unit is used for synchronizing the acquired price tag data information to the corresponding electronic price tag when the shopping cart moves.

Optionally, the mobile communication device further includes a power amplifier, the power amplifier is in communication connection with the electronic price tag communication unit, and is configured to amplify the communication signal output by the electronic price tag communication unit and then send the amplified communication signal out.

Optionally, the controller is further in communication connection with the power amplifier, and the controller is configured to obtain a power amplifier enabling parameter, and determine whether to control the power amplifier in the mobile communication device to be turned on according to the power amplifier enabling parameter; the power amplifier enabling parameter comprises at least one of the following parameters: the number of the power amplifiers which are started in the current area of the mobile communication device, the distribution density of the power amplifiers which are started in the current area, the number of the electronic price tags in the current area, and the ratio of the number of the power amplifiers which are started in the current area to the number of the electronic price tags in the current area.

Optionally, the mobile communication device further comprises a positioning unit, communicatively coupled to the controller, configured to locate the position of the mobile communication device.

Optionally, the server communication unit is configured to communicate directly with the server; or, the server communication unit is configured to communicate with the server through a fixed base station, the fixed base station including a base station currently closest to the mobile communication device or a base station with a strongest signal detected by the mobile communication device.

Furthermore, the invention also provides an intelligent shopping cart which comprises the shopping cart and any one of the mobile communication devices, wherein the mobile communication device is fixed on the shopping cart and moves along with the movement of the shopping cart.

Further, the present invention provides an electronic price tag data synchronization method, which is applied to any one of the mobile communication devices, and the electronic price tag data synchronization method includes:

receiving price tag data information sent by a server, wherein the price tag data information is data information which needs to be synchronized to an electronic price tag;

and synchronizing the part of the acquired price tag data information corresponding to the electronic price tag in the current area to the electronic price tag when the shopping cart moves.

Optionally, before synchronizing the part of the acquired price tag data information corresponding to the electronic price tag in the current located area to the electronic price tag, determining that the electronic price tag in the current located area needs to be synchronized according to any one of the following manners:

the first method is as follows:

receiving resynchronization zone indication information sent by a server, wherein the resynchronization zone indication information is used for indicating a resynchronization zone, and the resynchronization zone is a zone in which the effect of carrying out price tag data information synchronization on an electronic price tag and the server through a fixed base station does not reach the standard;

determining that the current area of the mobile terminal belongs to the resynchronization area according to the resynchronization area indication information;

the second method comprises the following steps:

sending the area information of the current area to a server;

receiving a resynchronization instruction sent by the server according to the area information, wherein the resynchronization instruction represents that the mobile communication equipment needs to carry out data synchronization on the electronic price tag in the current area;

the third method comprises the following steps:

detecting the signal intensity of a fixed base station configured for the current area;

and determining that the current area belongs to a weak signal area of the fixed base station according to a preset signal intensity threshold and the detected signal intensity.

Optionally, before receiving the price tag data information sent by the server, the method further includes:

and when the self is determined to move along with the shopping cart, requesting to establish a communication connection with the server.

Furthermore, the invention also provides an electronic price tag data synchronization method, which is applied to a server and comprises the following steps:

establishing a communication connection with a mobile communication device loaded on a shopping cart;

and sending the price tag data information to the mobile communication equipment so that the mobile communication equipment can carry out data synchronization on the corresponding electronic price tag according to the price tag data information.

Advantageous effects

The invention provides a mobile communication device, an intelligent shopping cart and an electronic price tag data synchronization method. Meanwhile, the mobile communication device can be respectively communicated with the server and the electronic price tag under the control of the controller, so that the mobile communication device can acquire price tag data information corresponding to thousands of electrons from the server and synchronize the price tag data information to the corresponding electronic price tag. Because the consumer can pass through at least part of the goods shelves in a short distance when carrying the shopping cart to move in the market, the mobile communication equipment can also communicate with the electronic price tags on the goods shelves under the short-distance condition, the communication under the short-distance condition can enhance the signal intensity of communication signals received by the electronic price tags, and the success rate of price tag data information synchronization is improved; meanwhile, as the shopping carts are usually put in a large number of shopping malls, different consumers carry the shopping carts to shop in the shopping malls along different paths, and meanwhile, price tag data information synchronization of electronic price tags in different areas is realized, so that the consistency of price information displayed by the electronic price tags and price information in a server is improved under the condition that data synchronization between the server and the electronic price tags based on a fixed base station is unsuccessful, and normal operation of the shopping malls is realized on the basis of not increasing the labor cost.

Drawings

The invention will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples, in which:

fig. 1 is a schematic hardware configuration diagram of an alternative mobile communication device for implementing various embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system of the mobile communication device shown in FIG. 1;

fig. 3 is a schematic hardware structure diagram of a mobile communication device provided in a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an electronic price tag data synchronization system provided in a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is another schematic diagram of the electronic price tag data synchronization system provided in the first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an electronic price tag data synchronization method according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of another hardware configuration of the mobile communication device provided in the first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of another hardware configuration of the mobile communication device provided in the first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an electronic price tag data synchronization method according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a hardware structure of a server according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention.

In the following description, suffixes such as "module", "component", or "unit" used to denote elements are used only for facilitating the explanation of the present invention, and have no specific meaning in itself. Thus, "module", "component" or "unit" may be used mixedly.

The mobile communication device may be implemented in various forms. For example, the mobile communication device described in the present invention may include a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a palmtop computer, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a Portable Media Player (PMP), a navigation device, a wearable device, a smart band, a pedometer, and the like.

Referring to fig. 1, which is a schematic diagram of a hardware structure of a mobile communication device for implementing various embodiments of the present invention, a structure of the mobile communication device 100 may include: RF (Radio Frequency) unit 101, WiFi module 102, audio output unit 103, a/V (audio/video) input unit 104, sensor 105, display unit 106, user input unit 107, interface unit 108, memory 109, processor 110, and power supply 111. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the mobile communication device architecture shown in fig. 1 does not constitute a limitation of the mobile communication device, which may include more or fewer components than shown, or combine certain components, or a different arrangement of components.

The following describes the various components of the mobile communication device in more detail with reference to fig. 1:

the radio frequency unit 101 may be configured to receive and transmit signals during information transmission and reception or during a call, and specifically, receive downlink information of a base station and then process the downlink information to the processor 110; in addition, the uplink data is transmitted to the base station. Typically, radio frequency unit 101 includes, but is not limited to, an antenna, at least one amplifier, a transceiver, a coupler, a low noise amplifier, a duplexer, and the like. In addition, the radio frequency unit 101 can also communicate with a network and other devices through wireless communication. The wireless communication may use any communication standard or protocol, including but not limited to GSM (Global System for Mobile communications), GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), CDMA2000(Code Division Multiple Access 2000), WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access), FDD-LTE (Frequency Division duplex Long Term Evolution), and TDD-LTE (Time Division duplex Long Term Evolution).

WiFi belongs to a short-distance wireless transmission technology, and the mobile communication device can help a user send and receive e-mails, browse webpages, access streaming media and the like through the WiFi module 102, and provides wireless broadband internet access for the user. Although fig. 1 shows the WiFi module 102, it is understood that it does not belong to the essential constitution of the mobile communication device, and can be omitted entirely as needed within the scope not changing the essence of the invention.

The audio output unit 103 may convert audio data received by the radio frequency unit 101 or the WiFi module 102 or stored in the memory 109 into an audio signal and output as sound when the mobile communication device 100 is in a call signal reception mode, a call mode, a recording mode, a voice recognition mode, a broadcast reception mode, or the like. Also, the audio output unit 103 may also provide audio output related to a specific function performed by the mobile communication device 100 (e.g., a call signal reception sound, a message reception sound, etc.). The audio output unit 103 may include a speaker, a buzzer, and the like.

The a/V input unit 104 is used to receive audio or video signals. The a/V input Unit 104 may include a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) 1041 and a microphone 1042, the Graphics processor 1041 Processing image data of still pictures or video obtained by an image capturing device (e.g., a camera) in a video capturing mode or an image capturing mode. The processed image frames may be displayed on the display unit 106. The image frames processed by the graphic processor 1041 may be stored in the memory 109 (or other storage medium) or transmitted via the radio frequency unit 101 or the WiFi module 102. The microphone 1042 may receive sounds (audio data) via the microphone 1042 in a phone call mode, a recording mode, a voice recognition mode, or the like, and may be capable of processing such sounds into audio data. The processed audio (voice) data may be converted into a format output transmittable to a mobile communication base station via the radio frequency unit 101 in case of a phone call mode. The microphone 1042 may implement various types of noise cancellation (or suppression) algorithms to cancel (or suppress) noise or interference generated in the course of receiving and transmitting audio signals.

The mobile communication device 100 also includes at least one sensor 105, such as light sensors, motion sensors, and other sensors. Specifically, the light sensor includes an ambient light sensor that can adjust the brightness of the display panel 1061 according to the brightness of ambient light, and a proximity sensor that can turn off the display panel 1061 and/or the backlight when the mobile communication device 100 is moved to the ear. As one of the motion sensors, the accelerometer sensor can detect the magnitude of acceleration in each direction (generally, three axes), can detect the magnitude and direction of gravity when stationary, and can be used for applications of recognizing the posture of a mobile phone (such as horizontal and vertical screen switching, related games, magnetometer posture calibration), vibration recognition related functions (such as pedometer and tapping), and the like; as for other sensors such as a fingerprint sensor, a pressure sensor, an iris sensor, a molecular sensor, a gyroscope, a barometer, a hygrometer, a thermometer, and an infrared sensor, which can be configured on the mobile phone, further description is omitted here.

The display unit 106 is used to display information input by a user or information provided to the user. The Display unit 106 may include a Display panel 1061, and the Display panel 1061 may be configured in the form of a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), an Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED), or the like.

The user input unit 107 may be used to receive input numeric or character information and generate key signal inputs related to user settings and function control of the mobile communication device. Specifically, the user input unit 107 may include a touch panel 1071 and other input devices 1072. The touch panel 1071, also referred to as a touch screen, may collect a touch operation performed by a user on or near the touch panel 1071 (e.g., an operation performed by the user on or near the touch panel 1071 using a finger, a stylus, or any other suitable object or accessory), and drive a corresponding connection device according to a predetermined program. The touch panel 1071 may include two parts of a touch detection device and a touch controller. The touch detection device detects the touch direction of a user, detects a signal brought by touch operation and transmits the signal to the touch controller; the touch controller receives touch information from the touch sensing device, converts the touch information into touch point coordinates, sends the touch point coordinates to the processor 110, and can receive and execute commands sent by the processor 110. In addition, the touch panel 1071 may be implemented in various types, such as a resistive type, a capacitive type, an infrared ray, and a surface acoustic wave. In addition to the touch panel 1071, the user input unit 107 may include other input devices 1072. In particular, other input devices 1072 may include, but are not limited to, one or more of a physical keyboard, function keys (e.g., volume control keys, switch keys, etc.), a trackball, a mouse, a joystick, and the like, and are not limited to these specific examples.

Further, the touch panel 1071 may cover the display panel 1061, and when the touch panel 1071 detects a touch operation thereon or nearby, the touch panel 1071 transmits the touch operation to the processor 110 to determine the type of the touch event, and then the processor 110 provides a corresponding visual output on the display panel 1061 according to the type of the touch event. Although in fig. 1, the touch panel 1071 and the display panel 1061 are two separate components to implement the input and output functions of the mobile communication device, in some embodiments, the touch panel 1071 and the display panel 1061 may be integrated to implement the input and output functions of the mobile communication device, which is not limited herein.

The interface unit 108 serves as an interface through which at least one external device is connected to the mobile communication apparatus 100. For example, the external device may include a wired or wireless headset port, an external power supply (or battery charger) port, a wired or wireless data port, a memory card port, a port for connecting a device having an identification module, an audio input/output (I/O) port, a video I/O port, an earphone port, and the like. The interface unit 108 may be used to receive input from an external device (e.g., price tag data information, power, etc.) and transmit the received input to one or more elements within the mobile communication device 100 or may be used to transmit data between the mobile communication device 100 and an external device.

The memory 109 may be used to store software programs as well as various data. The memory 109 may mainly include a storage program area and a storage data area, wherein the storage program area may store an operating system, an application program required by at least one function (such as a sound playing function, an image playing function, etc.), and the like; the storage data area may store data (such as audio data, a phonebook, etc.) created according to the use of the cellular phone, and the like. Further, the memory 109 may include high speed random access memory, and may also include non-volatile memory, such as at least one magnetic disk storage device, flash memory device, or other volatile solid state storage device.

The processor 110 is a control center of the mobile communication device, connects various parts of the entire mobile communication device using various interfaces and lines, and performs various functions of the mobile communication device and processes data by operating or executing software programs and/or modules stored in the memory 109 and calling data stored in the memory 109, thereby performing overall monitoring of the mobile communication device. Processor 110 may include one or more processing units; preferably, the processor 110 may integrate an application processor, which mainly handles operating systems, user interfaces, application programs, etc., and a modem processor, which mainly handles wireless communications. It will be appreciated that the modem processor described above may not be integrated into the processor 110.

The mobile communication device 100 may further include a power supply 111 (e.g., a battery) for supplying power to various components, and preferably, the power supply 111 may be logically connected to the processor 110 via a power management system, so as to manage charging, discharging, and power consumption management functions via the power management system.

Although not shown in fig. 1, the mobile communication device 100 may further include a bluetooth module or the like, which is not described herein.

In order to facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present invention, a communication network system on which the mobile communication device of the present invention is based is described below.

Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is an architecture diagram of a communication Network system according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the communication Network system is an LTE system of a universal mobile telecommunications technology, and the LTE system includes a UE (User Equipment) 201, an E-UTRAN (Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) 202, an EPC (Evolved Packet Core) 203, and an IP service 204 of an operator, which are in communication connection in sequence.

Specifically, the UE201 may be the terminal 100 described above, and is not described herein again.

The E-UTRAN202 includes eNodeB2021 and other eNodeBs 2022, among others. Among them, the eNodeB2021 may be connected with other eNodeB2022 through backhaul (e.g., X2 interface), the eNodeB2021 is connected to the EPC203, and the eNodeB2021 may provide the UE201 access to the EPC 203.

The EPC203 may include an MME (Mobility Management Entity) 2031, an HSS (Home Subscriber Server) 2032, other MMEs 2033, an SGW (Serving gateway) 2034, a PGW (PDN gateway) 2035, and a PCRF (Policy and Charging Rules Function) 2036, and the like. The MME2031 is a control node that handles signaling between the UE201 and the EPC203, and provides bearer and connection management. HSS2032 is used to provide registers to manage functions such as home location register (not shown) and holds subscriber specific information about service characteristics, data rates, etc. All user data may be sent through SGW2034, PGW2035 may provide IP address assignment for UE201 and other functions, and PCRF2036 is a policy and charging control policy decision point for traffic data flow and IP bearer resources, which selects and provides available policy and charging control decisions for a policy and charging enforcement function (not shown).

The IP services 204 may include the internet, intranets, IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), or other IP services, among others.

Although the LTE system is described as an example, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the LTE system, but may also be applied to other wireless communication systems, such as GSM, CDMA2000, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, and future new network systems.

Based on the hardware structure of the mobile communication device and the communication network system, the invention provides various embodiments of the method.

First embodiment

The present embodiment first provides a mobile communication device, please refer to the schematic diagram of the hardware structure of the mobile communication device shown in fig. 3:

the mobile communication device 30 includes a controller 31, a server communication unit 32, and an electronic price tag communication unit 33, wherein the server communication unit 32 and the electronic price tag communication unit 33 are both communicatively connected to the controller 31 and controlled by the controller 31.

The present embodiment further provides an electronic price tag data synchronization system including the aforementioned mobile communication device 30, please refer to a schematic structural diagram of the electronic price tag data synchronization system 4 shown in fig. 4: the electronic price tag data synchronization system 4 includes a mobile communication device 30, a server 41, and a plurality of electronic price tags 42. The server communication unit 32 in the mobile communication device 30 is used to communicate with the server 41, and the electronic price tag communication unit 33 is used to enable communication between the mobile communication device 30 and the electronic price tag 42. It will be appreciated that the mobile communication device 30 is effectively an intermediary communication medium that communicates between the electronic price tag 42 and the server 41.

In fig. 4, the server communication unit 32 may communicate with the server directly, but in other examples of the embodiment, the server communication unit 32 may communicate with the server through a fixed base station disposed in the mall. For example, please refer to a schematic structural diagram of another electronic price tag data synchronization system 5 shown in fig. 5: the electronic price tag communication unit 33 in the mobile communication device 30 is in communication connection with the electronic price tag 42, the server communication unit 32 is in communication connection with the fixed base station 43, the fixed base station 43 is in communication connection with the server 41, and in some examples of the embodiment, the fixed base station 43 may also be in communication connection with the electronic price tag 42. Of course, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the fixed base station 43 may be responsible for communication between the server 41 and the mobile communication device 30 only in some cases, and that the communication connection between the electronic price tag 42 and the server 41 without the mobile communication device 30 may be implemented by other base stations.

The present embodiment further provides an electronic price tag data synchronization method, please refer to a flow diagram of the electronic price tag data synchronization method shown in fig. 6:

s602: the mobile communication device establishes communication connection with the electronic price tag and the server respectively.

As can be seen from the foregoing description, the communication connection between the mobile communication device and the server may be implemented through the fixed base station or directly implemented through both. For the electronic price tag, the role of the mobile communication device is similar to that of a fixed base station put in a shopping mall, so that the electronic price tag actually establishes a communication connection with another mobile base station.

S604: the server sends price tag data information to the mobile communication device.

In some examples of this embodiment, the server may actively send price tag data information corresponding to the electronic price tag to the mobile communication device directly after establishing a communication connection with the mobile communication device; in some other examples, the server may send the price data information to the mobile communication device according to the price data request after receiving the price data request sent by the mobile communication device. It will be appreciated that the price tag data information sent by the server to the mobile communication device is generally the information that is currently expected to be displayed corresponding to the electronic price tag, and therefore, the price tag data information should be the latest price tag data information currently corresponding to the electronic price tag, and taking the example that the price tag data information includes the price of the product, the price of the product provided by the server to the mobile communication device should be the latest price of the product. Of course, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the price tag data information is not limited to the price of the commodity, and may include at least one of the commodity name, the commodity brand, the commodity production date, the production place information, the quality guarantee period, and the like.

In some examples of this embodiment, the server may send price tag data information corresponding to all electronic price tags it manages to the mobile communication device. In other examples, the server may provide only price tag data information to the mobile communication device that requires the mobile communication device to synchronize data. It will be appreciated that in some examples, price tag data information requiring data synchronization by the mobile communication device may be determined by the mobile communication device itself and then solicited from the server, or may be determined by the server and then sent to the mobile communication device.

For example, in the process of data synchronization between the server and the electronic price tag, if the electronic price tag receives price tag data information sent by the server through the fixed base station, the electronic price tag may further feed back a synchronization success indication to the server through the fixed base station, and through the synchronization success indication, the server may determine that the data synchronization between the electronic price tag and the corresponding electronic price tag is successful. Therefore, if the server performs data synchronization to a certain electronic price tag, but does not receive a synchronization success indication from the electronic price tag through the fixed base station, the data synchronization failure of the electronic price tag is not indicated, and price tag data information corresponding to the electronic price tag needs to be resynchronized through the mobile communication device. The server may provide price tag data information to the mobile communication device along with which resynchronization is desired. For another example, some mobile communication devices are provided with a positioning unit, for example, please refer to the schematic hardware structure diagram of another mobile communication device 70 shown in fig. 7: the mobile communication device 70 comprises a positioning unit 34 in addition to the controller 31, the server communication unit 32 and the electronic price tag communication unit 33, and the positioning unit 34 is also in communication connection with the control unit 31 and can position the position of the mobile communication device 70. After the mobile communication device 70 establishes a communication connection with the server, the mobile communication device 70 may send the location information acquired by the positioning unit 34 to the server, so that the server may provide the price tag data information of all electronic price tags near the location or the price tag data information of electronic price tags that need to be resynchronized to itself.

S606: and synchronizing the part of the acquired price tag data information corresponding to the electronic price tag in the current area to the electronic price tag when the shopping cart moves.

After the mobile communication device acquires the price tag data information from the server, the mobile communication device can synchronize the part of the acquired price tag data information corresponding to the electronic price tag in the current located area to the electronic price tag. It should be understood that the price tag data information sent by the server to the mobile communication device should include identification information corresponding to the electronic price tag, so that the server can determine which electronic tag or tags it should be synchronized with according to the identification information after receiving the price tag data information, that is, can determine the target electronic tag of the price tag data information. In some examples of the embodiment, the identification information of the electronic price tag may be any one of a hardware identification of the electronic price tag and an identification assigned by the server for each electronic price tag, and it is understood that the identification should uniquely indicate at least one electronic price tag among all electronic price tags that can be managed by the server.

In some examples of the present embodiment, the electronic price tag communication unit 33 may directly transmit the price tag data information to the corresponding target electronic price tag under the control of the controller 31. In some examples of this embodiment, the mobile communication device further includes a power amplifier, for example, please refer to a schematic diagram of a hardware structure of the mobile communication device 80 shown in fig. 8: the mobile communication device 80 further includes a power amplifier 35 in addition to the controller 31, the server communication unit 32 and the electronic price tag communication unit 33, wherein the power amplifier 35 is in communication connection with the electronic price tag communication unit 33, and is configured to amplify a communication signal that needs to be transmitted by the electronic price tag communication unit 33 and then complete outgoing. In some examples of this embodiment, the power amplifier 35 in the mobile communication device 80 is kept normally open after the mobile communication device 80 is powered on, in which case any communication signal that needs to be sent out by the electronic price tag communication unit 33 will be amplified by the power amplifier 35 at any time. However, in some examples, the power amplifier 35 is communicatively coupled to the controller 31 and controlled by the controller 31, as shown in fig. 8, in which case whether the power amplifier 35 is turned on or not may be determined by the controller 31. It will of course be appreciated that the controller 31 may determine, in addition to the switching state of the power amplifier 35, the operating parameters of the power amplifier 35, such as the amplification factor, etc.

In some examples of the present embodiment, the controller 31 may control the switching state of the power amplifier 35 according to some schemes as follows:

for example, the controller 31 determines whether to control the power amplifier 35 to be turned on according to whether the server communication unit 32 has a power amplifier enabling instruction received from the server, and in this case, whether the power amplifier 35 is turned on is obviously the server although it is controlled by the controller 31. The server may decide whether to turn on the power amplifier 35 based on the need for the mobile communication device 80 to synchronize data to the electronic price tag; whether the power amplifier needs to be turned on may also be determined based on the distance between the current location of the mobile communication device 80 and the location of the target electronic price tag; in still other examples, the server may determine whether the power amplifier 35 needs to be turned on based on the number of target electronic price tags in the area in which the mobile communication device 80 is currently located.

In another example, the controller 31 may obtain a power amplifier enabling parameter and determine whether to control the power amplifier 35 in the mobile communication device 80 to be turned on according to the power amplifier enabling parameter. The power amplifier enabling parameter comprises at least one of the following parameters: the number of powered-on power amplifiers in the current location area of the mobile communication device 80, the distribution density of powered-on power amplifiers in the current location area, the number of electronic price tags in the current location area, and the ratio of the number of powered-on power amplifiers to the number of electronic price tags. For example, if the number of electronic price tags in the area where the mobile communication device 80 is currently located is large and exceeds the preset electronic price tag number threshold, the controller 31 may control to turn on the power amplifier 35; if the number of the already-turned-on power amplifiers in the area where the mobile communication device 80 is currently located does not reach the preset power amplifier number threshold, the controller 31 may control to turn on the power amplifiers 35; if the distribution density of the activated power amplifiers in the area where the mobile communication device 80 is currently located has reached the preset distribution density threshold, the controller 31 will not control the power amplifiers 35 to be activated any more, wherein the distribution density of the activated power amplifiers is equal to the ratio of the number of the activated power amplifiers in the area where the mobile communication device 80 is currently located to the area of the area where the mobile communication device 80 is currently located; the controller 31 also does not turn on the power amplifier 35 if the ratio of the number of turned-on power amplifiers in the current location area to the number of electronic price tags in the current location area exceeds a preset ratio. It should be noted that the "current location area" of the mobile communication device 80 may be a fixed area divided by the server in advance according to the range managed by the server, in which case the range of each area does not change as the mobile communication device 80 moves, but the "current location area" of the mobile communication device 80 at different times may be different as the mobile communication device moves. In other examples, the "current location area" of the mobile communication device 80 is a fixed area centered on the current location of the mobile communication device 80, for example, an area within a radius of 10m from the center of the mobile communication device 80; or may be an area corresponding to the effective communication range of the mobile communication device 80.

The embodiment also provides an intelligent shopping cart, which comprises a shopping cart and a mobile communication device loaded on the shopping cart, and the intelligent shopping cart can be applied to various markets such as markets, supermarkets and the like. The mobile communication device may be the mobile communication device provided in any of the foregoing examples, and may be disposed inside the shopping cart and hidden by an external structure of the shopping cart, or disposed on the shopping cart at a position that is not easily noticed by the consumer and does not affect the placement of the shopping items in the shopping cart by the consumer, or may be exposed on the surface of the shopping cart. In some examples, the mobile communication device is bound to the shopping cart and cannot be detached, in which case the intelligent shopping cart already binds the shopping cart to the corresponding mobile communication device during production; in still other examples, the mobile communication device may be loaded onto the cart by the mall operator as desired, in which case the mobile communication device may be substantially detached from the cart to allow the cart to be unbundled from the mobile communication device, allowing the mobile communication device and cart to be manufactured and sold separately. It will be appreciated that the cart carrying the mobile communication device may be a push-pull cart having wheels to assist in movement, including shopping baskets carried or carried by the user, etc.

The electronic price tag data synchronization method provided by the embodiment forms the intelligent shopping cart capable of synchronizing the price tag data information from the server to the electronic price tag by arranging the mobile communication device on the shopping cart, and utilizes the characteristics that the shopping cart can randomly move along with a consumer in a shopping mall, and the movement tracks of a large number of shopping carts in the shopping mall are enough to cover all areas of the shopping mall, thereby avoiding the problem that the price tag data information arranged on the server side cannot be automatically synchronized to the electronic price tag due to the influence of factors such as external interference, signal coverage range of a fixed base station and the like on the communication between the electronic price tag and the fixed base station, realizing the synchronization of the price tag data information between the server and the electronic price tag by utilizing the movement of the intelligent shopping cart in the shopping mall, improving the price tag data synchronization of the server to the electronic price tag through the mobile communication device loaded on the shopping cart on the basis of not additionally increasing the labor cost, the consistency of the data between the price tags and the electronic price tags is beneficial to reducing the operation cost of the shopping mall.

Second embodiment

In order to make the advantages and details of the electronic price tag data synchronization scheme provided in the foregoing embodiments clearer to those skilled in the art, the present embodiment will be described with reference to an example, please refer to a flowchart of an electronic price tag data synchronization method shown in fig. 9:

s902: after detecting that the mobile communication device starts to move in the shopping mall, the mobile communication device establishes communication connection with the server.

In some examples of this embodiment, the mobile communication devices on all shopping carts in the mall are always in communication connection with the server after being turned on, but in this example, the mobile communication devices establish communication connection with the server only when it is determined that the shopping cart in which the mobile communication device is located starts to move in the mall, so that communication resources and power consumption occupied by the server and the mobile communication devices for keeping communication and understanding during idle time can be reduced, and the load of the server is reduced. It will be appreciated that the communication link between the mobile communication device and the server may be formed directly between the two or may be formed by one or more fixed base stations.

S904: the mobile communication device detects the signal strength of the fixed base station through which the moving path passes en route.

The mobile communication device can detect the signal strength of the fixed base station of each coverage area containing at least partial area of the moving path on the moving path in real time during the moving process of the mobile communication device along with the shopping cart. It will be appreciated that the mobile communication device may be able to detect the signals of several fixed base stations at the same time at the same location, in which case the mobile communication device may only be concerned with the signal strength of one of the fixed base stations with the strongest signal, since it is normally the fixed base station that communicates with the electronic price tag in the vicinity of the location.

S906: the mobile communication device determines that the current area is a weak signal area when the detected signal strength is lower than the preset signal strength threshold.

After detecting the signal strength of the fixed base station, the mobile communication device may compare the signal strength of the fixed base station with a preset signal strength threshold, and determine whether the current area is a signal area according to the comparison result. If the signal strength is greater than or equal to a preset signal strength threshold value, the mobile communication device can determine that the current area is not a time-weak signal area; conversely, if the detected signal strength threshold is smaller than the preset signal strength threshold, the mobile communication device may determine that the current located area is a weak signal area.

S908: the mobile communication device provides the server with the area information of the area where the mobile communication device is currently located.

When the mobile communication device determines that the current area is a weak signal area, the mobile communication device may provide the area information of the current area, that is, the area information of the weak signal area, to the server. It is understood that, if the areas in the mall are divided by the server according to a fixed rule, the mobile communication device may determine the area where the mobile communication device is currently located according to the current location of the mobile communication device, and provide the area identification information of the area where the mobile communication device is currently located to the server, and the server may determine which area the mobile communication device is currently located in based on the area identification information directly. If the server does not store the division information of each region in the mall in advance, the mobile communication device and the server may agree with a region determination rule in advance, in which case, the mobile communication device may transmit the current position of the mobile communication device to the server, and the server determines which region the weak signal region of the mobile communication device is located in according to the agreed region determination rule in advance.

S910: and the server sends price tag data information corresponding to the electronic price tags in the weak signal area to the mobile communication equipment.

In this embodiment, after the server determines the area range of the weak signal area according to the message sent by the mobile communication device, it may determine which electronic price tags located in the weak signal area include, and then the server sends the latest price tag data information of the electronic price tags to the mobile communication device. In some examples, the server may first determine which of the electronic price tag data information in the weak signal region needs to be resynchronized, and then may provide only the price tag data information corresponding to the portion of the electronic price tag to the mobile communication device.

S912: the mobile communication device controls to turn on its own power amplifier.

After receiving the electronic price tag data information from the server, the mobile communication device starts a power amplifier of the mobile communication device to prepare for carrying out amplification processing on a communication signal sent to the electronic price tag through the power amplifier, and carrying out price tag data synchronization on the electronic price tag. It is understood that in some other examples of this embodiment, the mobile communication device always turns on its power amplifier after power-on; in some examples, even if the mobile communication device receives the price tag data information from the server, the mobile communication device may not turn on its own power amplifier, but may determine whether the power amplifier needs to be turned on according to the power amplifier enabling parameters, such as the number of turned-on power amplifiers in the current area of the mobile communication device, the distribution density of turned-on common amplifiers, and the like, and may control the turning on only when the power amplifier enabling parameters require the turning on of the power amplifier. In addition, whether the power amplifier of a mobile communication device is turned on or not may be determined by the server, and the server may send a power amplifier enabling indication to a certain mobile communication device to instruct the mobile communication device to turn on its power amplifier when determining that the power amplifier of the certain mobile communication device is to be turned on.

S914: the mobile communication device synchronizes price tag data information to the electronic price tag in the current location area.

After the power amplifier is started, the mobile communication device can send a communication signal to the electronic price tag through the electronic price tag communication unit and the power amplifier, and the communication signal carries price tag data information corresponding to the electronic price tag.

S916: and the electronic price tag updates the display information of the electronic price tag according to the received price tag data information.

After the electronic price tag receives price tag data information corresponding to the electronic price tag from the mobile communication device, the display content of the electronic price tag can be updated according to the price tag data information, so that the latest commodity information of the commodity served by the electronic price tag can be displayed for the consumer.

It is to be understood that while FIG. 9 illustrates only one alternative to electronic price tag data synchronization based on an intelligent shopping cart implementation, in other examples of this embodiment, other variations of the electronic price tag data synchronization scheme are possible:

for example, in one example, after price tag data synchronization of electronic price tags managed by the server through the fixed base station, the server determines areas with unsuccessful synchronization, and then takes the areas as re-synchronization areas. The server may then send the current and up-to-date price tag data information for the electronic price tag and resynchronization zone indication information corresponding to the resynchronization zone to the mobile communication device. Optionally, the price tag data information sent by the server to the mobile communication device may be the latest price tag data information of all current electronic price tags, or may be only the price tag data information of the corresponding electronic price tag in the resynchronization region. After receiving the resynchronization zone indication information, the mobile communication device can judge whether the zone where the mobile communication device is currently located belongs to the resynchronization zone, and if the judgment result is yes, the mobile communication device can perform price tag data information resynchronization on the electronic price tag in the corresponding zone according to the received price tag data information. In other examples, the server may initially send resynchronization zone indication information only to the mobile communication device, and after the mobile communication device determines that it is currently in a certain resynchronization zone according to the positioning information determined by its positioning unit, the mobile communication device requests the price data information of the electronic price tag in the zone from the server again, and completes data resynchronization according to the acquired price data information.

In some examples, whether the mobile communication device is in the resynchronization zone may be determined by the server, for example, the mobile communication device may periodically send the current location of the mobile communication device to the server during movement, and the server may determine whether the mobile communication device is currently in the resynchronization zone according to the obtained location. If the judgment result is yes, the server can send the electronic price tag data information in the resynchronization region to the mobile communication equipment, and meanwhile, the mobile communication equipment is required to perform data synchronization on the corresponding electronic price tag according to the acquired price tag data information through resynchronization indication.

Or in some examples, the server may provide all current latest price tag data information of the electronic price tags to the mobile communication device in advance, or provide the price tag data information of the electronic price tags in all resynchronization regions to the mobile communication device, and then, after determining that the mobile communication device is in the resynchronization region according to the position of the mobile communication device, the server may send the resynchronization indication to the mobile communication device without sending the price tag data information again. In this case, the mobile communication device, upon receiving the resynchronization instruction, may determine that it is necessary to resynchronize the price tag data information of the electronic price tag in the current location area.

According to the electronic price tag data synchronization method provided by the embodiment, the characteristic that a consumer can pass through at least part of the goods shelves in a short distance when carrying a shopping cart to move in a shopping mall is utilized, and the mobile communication equipment is loaded on the shopping cart and is also communicated with the electronic price tags on the goods shelves under the condition of the short distance, so that price tag data information synchronization is realized, and the success rate of price tag data information synchronization is improved; meanwhile, as the shopping carts are usually put in a large number of shopping malls, different consumers carry the shopping carts to shop in the shopping malls along different paths, and meanwhile, price tag data information synchronization of electronic price tags in different areas is realized, so that the consistency of price information displayed by the electronic price tags and price information in a server is improved under the condition that data synchronization between the server and the electronic price tags based on a fixed base station is unsuccessful, and normal operation of the shopping malls is realized on the basis of not increasing the labor cost.

Third embodiment

The present embodiments provide a computer-readable storage medium including volatile or non-volatile, removable or non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, computer program modules or other data. Computer-readable storage media include, but are not limited to, RAM (Random Access Memory), ROM (Read-Only Memory), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), flash Memory or other Memory technology, CD-ROM (Compact disk Read-Only Memory), Digital Versatile Disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by a computer.

The computer readable storage medium may store one or more computer programs that can be read, compiled and executed by one or more processors, and in this embodiment, the computer readable storage medium may store at least one of a first electronic price tag data synchronization program and a second electronic price tag data synchronization program, where the first electronic price tag data synchronization program can be used by one or more processors to execute a process on the mobile communication device side for implementing any one of the electronic price tag data synchronization methods described in the foregoing embodiments; the second electronic price tag data synchronization program may be used by one or more processors to execute a process on the server side for implementing any one of the electronic price tag data synchronization methods described in the foregoing embodiments.

The present embodiments also provide a computer program product comprising a computer readable means on which a computer program as shown above is stored. The computer readable means in this embodiment may include a computer readable storage medium as shown above. For example, the computer program product comprises at least one of a mobile communication device and a server, which are not described herein in detail with respect to the hardware structure of the mobile communication device. The hardware structure diagram of the server is shown in fig. 10:

the server 10 includes a processor 11, a memory 12, and a communication bus 13 for connecting the processor 11 and the memory 12, wherein the memory 12 may be the storage medium storing the second electronic price tag data synchronization program. The processor 11 may read the second electronic price tag data synchronization program, compile and execute the flow on the server side that implements the electronic price tag data synchronization method described in the foregoing embodiment: establishing a communication connection with a mobile communication device loaded on a shopping cart; and sending the price tag data information to the mobile communication equipment so that the mobile communication equipment can carry out data synchronization on the corresponding electronic price tag according to the price tag data information.

It is understood that the process implemented by the processor 11 executing the second electronic price tag data synchronization program is not only the above one, but the server may also obtain the location of the mobile communication device and determine whether the area where the mobile communication device is located in the resynchronization zone according to the location; the server can also control the mobile communication device side, for example, control the power amplifier of the mobile communication device side to be turned on. For details of implementing other processes by the processor 11 of the server 10, please refer to the description of the foregoing embodiments, which will not be described herein.

It should be noted that, in this document, 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-mentioned serial numbers of the embodiments of the present invention are merely for description and do not represent the merits of the embodiments.

Through the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art will clearly understand that the method of the above embodiments can be implemented by software plus a necessary general hardware platform, and certainly can also be implemented by hardware, but in many cases, the former is a better implementation manner. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the present invention may be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium (such as ROM/RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk) and includes instructions for enabling a terminal (such as a mobile phone, a computer, a server, an air conditioner, or a network device) to execute the method according to the embodiments of the present invention.

While the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments, which are illustrative and not restrictive, and it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A mobile communication device configured to be loaded on a shopping cart, the mobile communication device comprising a controller, a server communication unit and an electronic price tag communication unit, the server communication unit and the electronic price tag communication unit both being in communication connection with the controller and being respectively for communication with a server and an electronic price tag under control of the controller;

the electronic price tag communication unit is used for synchronizing the acquired price tag data information to the corresponding electronic price tag when the shopping cart moves.

2. The mobile communication device of claim 1, further comprising a power amplifier communicatively coupled to the electronic price tag communication unit and configured to amplify and output communication signals output by the electronic price tag communication unit.

3. The mobile communication device of claim 2, wherein the controller is further communicatively coupled to the power amplifier, the controller configured to obtain a power amplifier enabling parameter and determine whether to control the power amplifier in the mobile communication device to turn on based on the power amplifier enabling parameter; the power amplifier enabling parameter comprises at least one of the following parameters: the number of the power amplifiers which are started in the current area of the mobile communication device, the distribution density of the power amplifiers which are started in the current area, the number of the electronic price tags in the current area, and the ratio of the number of the power amplifiers which are started in the current area to the number of the electronic price tags in the current area.

4. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the mobile communication device further comprises a positioning unit, communicatively coupled to the controller, configured to locate the position of the mobile communication device.

5. The mobile communication device of any of claims 1-4, wherein the server communication unit is configured to communicate directly with the server; or, the server communication unit is configured to communicate with the server through a fixed base station, the fixed base station including a base station currently closest to the mobile communication device or a base station with a strongest signal detected by the mobile communication device.

6. An intelligent shopping cart comprising a shopping cart and a mobile communication device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, said mobile communication device being secured to said shopping cart so as to move with the movement of said shopping cart.

7. An electronic price tag data synchronization method applied to the mobile communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, the electronic price tag data synchronization method comprising:

8. The method for synchronizing electronic price tag data according to claim 6, wherein before synchronizing the part of the acquired price tag data information corresponding to the electronic price tag in the current location area to the electronic price tag, further comprising determining that the electronic price tag in the current location area needs to be synchronized according to any one of the following manners:

the first method is as follows:

receiving resynchronization zone indication information sent by the server, wherein the resynchronization zone indication information is used for indicating a resynchronization zone, and the resynchronization zone is an area in which the effect of price tag data information synchronization of the electronic price tag and the server through a fixed base station does not reach the standard;

determining that the area where the current self is located belongs to the resynchronization area according to the resynchronization area indication information;

the second method comprises the following steps:

sending the area information of the current area to the server;

receiving a resynchronization instruction sent by the server according to the area information, wherein the resynchronization instruction represents that the mobile communication equipment needs to perform data synchronization on the electronic price tag in the current area;

the third method comprises the following steps:

detecting the signal intensity of the fixed base station configured for the current area;

and determining that the current area belongs to the weak signal area of the fixed base station according to a preset signal intensity threshold and the detected signal intensity.

9. The electronic price tag data synchronization method of claim 7 or 8, wherein before receiving the price tag data information sent by the server, further comprising:

and when the self is determined to move along with the shopping cart, requesting to establish communication connection with the server.

10. An electronic price tag data synchronization method is applied to a server, and is characterized in that:

and sending price tag data information to the mobile communication equipment so that the mobile communication equipment can carry out data synchronization on the corresponding electronic price tag according to the price tag data information.