IE904670A1 - Method for supplying various departments of large¹self-service stores with department-specific information - Google Patents

Abstract

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

Description

METHOD FOR SUPPLYING VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS OF LARGE SELF-SERVICE STORES WITH DEPARTMENT-SPECIFIC INFORMATION it I A; SYSTEC AUSBAUSYSTEME GmbH, a German Body Corporate, of Ringstr 17, D-8031 Eichenau, Federal Republic of Germany - 1 6015 METHOD FOR SUPPLYING VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS OF LARGE SEDF-SERVlCg STORES WITH DEPARTMENT-SPECIFIC INFORMATION' The invention relates to a method for supplying various departments of a large self «-service store, equipped with a number ί of shopping carts, with department-specific information.

In large self-service stores, customers are informed of particularly attractive offers, speoial sales, nev products, and so forth in centrally controlled announcements over the loudspeaker. These loudspeaker announcements are often repeated ceeseleesly, always in the earns order, and so over the long run are not only annoying but ln fact, by their constant repetition, create an increasing distaste on the part of the customers hearing them.

Meanwhile, some such stores also use transmitters in departments that are to be supplied with specific information for that particular department. From these transmitters, the information intended for the particular department is transmitted wirelessly to receivers that are installed on all the shopping carts in a such a store. The information received is then acoustically reproduced over loudspeakers and/or shown on relatively large screens, which are likewise provided an the shopping carts and are eonneoted to the receivers on the shopping carts.

However, to customers stopping in the various departments, information announced over the shopping cart loudspeaker in these departments is just aa annoying as the central loudspeaker announcements. When screens are attached to the pushbars of the shopping carts, their else is a nuisance, on the one hand; on the other, the equipment for triggering the screen and supplying it with the requisite energy requires considerable space, so thus still further restricting the already relatively limited spaoa in the shopping cart.

Previously, the data absolutely required to prepare a so35 called customer route study have been collected with the aid of a acre or less large number of persons for an appropriate period of tine, either by observing individual customers or by polling them, making it possible to learn for instance what route the individual customer takes through the self-service storet whether he will frequent, or has frequented, certain so-called service shops; how long he stayed in the various departments; and so forth. The facts gained by observation or polling are then recorded on prepared questionnaires or in table fora, or diotated onto tape, far example.

The preparation alone, not to apeak of later carrying out such studies in the fora of observations, polling and the like, is not only extreaely time-consuming and thus labor-intensive, but in suoh polls of customers, one must also depend very heavily on the good will and cooperation of the individual customer and on his readiness to answer the questions asked with the necessary aceuraoy and detail. Despite the heavy expenditure of time and labor needed, the facts and results obtained in this way still have a variable amount of intrinsic uncertainty; the customer route study to be prepared, or prepared later, therefore necessarily often produces incorrect results that do not fully correspond to aotual facts.

It ia therefore the object of ths invention to create a method and an apparatus for supplying various departments of a large self-service store equipped with a number of shopping carts with department-specific information, in which quitd carefully aimed information that can be quickly changed, is made individually accessible to each customer of the store in the various departments, and in which information, every time it is effectively output, may optionally be stored in memory. λ method is also to be created in which in addition to the display of department-specific information, the route taken by each of the shopping carte used by customers of sueh a store and optionally the period of time each of these cards remains in individual departments should also be reliably ascertained and recorded* According to the invention, this object is attained in a method of the generic type by the method steps recited in claim 1. Advantageous further features of the methods according to the invention are the subject of the olaims that are directly or indirectly dependent on claim 1. Furthermore, acaording to the invention, this is attained in an apparatus for performing the method, by means of the oharaoteristies of the body of claim 8. Advantageous features of the apparatus according to the invention are the subject of dependent claims that are directly or indirectly dependent on claim 8. in a preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention, all the information specific to a department can be stored in a memory, for example in a memory diskette, in a transmitter/receiver unit that is associated with the particular department and hence is decentralized. The information stored in decentralized fashion is then output serially over an infrared path in the region of the particular department at a specific predetermined Cycle, for example with a transmission rate of 125 kilobits per second.

The information transmitted to the region of the particular department is then received hy receiver/transmitter units on the shopping aarts located there, stored bitwise in a buffer memory provided in each receiver/transmitter then made visible to the customer by playback on a preferably four-line display in each of the receiver/transmitters located in this department. The receiver/transmitters with display are preferably mounted in the field of view of the customer, on the top front edge of ths basket of the shopping cart. Rare, the department-specific information la generally shown only once on the display of the· receiver/transmitter mounted on the shopping cart during the time a customer spends in that department.

It is also assured in the method of the invention* by suitable monitoring and by the transmission mode used, that the information offered vill always be received ln such a way that it is played back on the display only onoe, from the beginning, without any omissions or truncations. For instance, the information received is canceled from the memory of the receiver/tranamitter after a certain period of time, or it may remain stored in the memory of the receiver/tranamitter for possible repetition until suoh time as the customer pushes the shopping cart into some other department.

Preferably at about the same time as or immediately after each visual playback of information on a display, a preferably encoded signal indicating this output of information can be transmitted by infrared rays to the department transmitter/receiver, recorded there and stored in such a way that it can be called up again. In other words, in the method of the invention, each time information is played back in full on a display, the signal transmitted by infrared light provides confirmation and thus a return acknowledgement that the information specific to this department was not only received by the reoelver/transmltter mounted on each chopping cart but was also visibly displayed thereon.

The number of confirmation signals received in eaoh department ie reoorded in decentralised fashion and stored provided vith a department-specific code - in such a way that it can be called up. From the confirmation signals, which oan be called up by means of a handheld unit, a kind of log is thus created, from which it can for instanoe be learned how often continuously output Information has in fact bean passed on to -4IE 904670 customers over the displays on the shopping carts.

Furthermore, the receiver/transmitters provided on the shopping carts are provided with a code number, which is either automatically broadcast or sampled by activation of all the transmitter/receivers that are installed in sampling locations of the store of interest in terms of a customer route. The time and date of reception can be assigned to all the information broadcast by the receiver/transmitters, including the code number, or all the information received in the receiver/transmitters. Especially from the assignment of the time cf reception to the code number of a receiver/transmitter, a conclusion can for instance be drawn as to how long a customer remains in certain departments, or under some circumstances how long the customer looks at specific articles or groups of articles.

Finally, a location identification code can also be allocated to the transmitter/receivers disposed in decentralized fashion, and this code is likewise broadcast over the infrared path to each of the receiver/transmitters that reach the region of the infrared path of such a transmitter/rcceiver. In that 2G case, the receiver/transmitters mounted on the shopping carte are then also each equipped with a memory to store location identification codes, in that case, appropriate sampling or scanning devices need to be provided only at the exit, for instance, or preferably in the region of the cash registers? by 25 means of these devices, the data temporarily stored in the receiver/tr&nsmittera of the shopping cart are sampled and transferred to the transmitter/receivers. All these extracted data can then be passed cn, for instance directly to a central memory, or collected in a local memory and from it sent at regular 70 intervale for evaluation and further processing, Onoe the data have been extracted from the memory of the receivar/tranemitter mounted on tha shopping carts, this memory is erased again, making -535 it immediately ready for use once again and capable of again storing data.

The invention will nov be described in further detail in terms of a preferred embodiment, referring to the accompanying drawings, shown aret Fig. 1, schematically, a transmitter/receiver unit provided in a department, and a receiver/transmitter unit with display provided on a shopping cart; Fig. 2a, a schematic view of a receiver/transmitter with 10 display in a front view; Fig. 2b, a sectional view through the receiver/transmitter of Fig. 2a; Fig. 3, schematically, a handheld unit communicating with a transmitter/receiver; and Fig. 4, schematically, a computer and printer arrangement connected to a handheld unit.

First, the principles of an information system operating by the method of the invention, with which a self-service market is for instance made capable of informing its customers at the so20 called P.o.P. (point of purchase) will be described. To this end, information from transmitter/receiver units 5χ-5η, installed at a height of from 2.5 to 4 m, each of them provided in n departments 2 of the self-service market, is transmitted along with signals for system control by infrared rays 6. This information is received by reoeiver/tranemitter units 8χ-8& mounted on shopping carts 7χ-7η and displayed by means of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) 9χ-9η of the receiver/transmitters 8i-8m. Each receiver/transmitter 8 with LCD 9 is mounted for this purpose within ths field of view of a customer, on the top front edge of a basket 7c of each shopping cart 7. There are from one to four lines, each for 40 alphanumeric characters per line, available in each lcd 9, with one line displayed after another. The manager of β the self-service market can decide whether and in what order the linee should be repeated, whether a line should appear immediately or be developed slowly, whether a line should flash, and/or whether an acoustical signal should be generated before the information is displayed, cr before eaah of the lines, or before individual lines. λ filing system can also be developed in the transmitter/recsivsre 5χ-5η mounted in the n departments 2, storing how often the information transmitted has ,in fact been shown on a display 9. To this end, the satisfactory reception and in particular the satisfactory pi ay ba ok of the information on the display 9 is signaled to the applicable transmitter/receivers5χ-5η by the receiver/transmitter a 8 mounted on the shopping carts 7, over an infrared path 6'.

The time can also be recorded in the filing system every hour on the hour; the filing system will also be hereinafter called the billing file, because with its aid an advertiser can be billed, for instance in leasing to an advertiser. The selfservice store manager can for instance negotiate billing to the advertiser selectively, on the basis of either the leased time or how many displays are actually shown on the display equipment 9. with the aid of the information system according to the invention, a so-called electronic customer route study can be mads. To this end, the receiver/transmitters 8χ-δη mounted on the shopping carts 7χ-7β, with ths associated displays 9x-9m, ar· numbered continuously, electronically. The number of each receiver/transmitter 8χ-8β can be called up by the tranemitter/receivers 5χ-5η mounted in the n departments 2 and then is stored in them along with the time and date, again ln a filing system hereinafter also called the acknowledgement file.

By suitable installation of the transmitter/receivere 5χ-5η in the n departments 2, it can thus be ascertained when a given shopping -7IE 904670 cart 7i-7b visited a given department.

The information system according to the invention comprises four basic components* namely a computer in the form of a laptop 1, one or more handheld units 3, a number n of transmitter/ receiver units 5i-8n to be mounted ·"· in the various departments, and a number a of receiver/transmitters 8i-8a vith LCD displays 9i-9m provided in them, to be installed on shopping carts 7i-7a. The functions of the four basic components of the information system vill nov be described in detail.

As can be seen from the schematic illustration ln Fig. 4, the laptop χ has a careen la, represented by a rectangle, and a merely schematically shown control panel lb. The laptop, which is an KS DOS-type computer, for instance, comprises a 512kb main memory, a 20 megabyte hard disk, and a 3.5 megabyte drive for 720 kb diskettes, again as an example. A printer ld is connected via a cable lc tc the laptop l. The laptop 1 can be connected to the handheld unit 3 over a further cable le. with the aid of the software installed on the hard disk cf the laptop 1, a user, for instance the manager of a self-service store, a hypermarket and the like can put the information intended for receiver/transmitters S^-Sa having the associated displays 9n into the desired form and with the desired format. After formatting of the various information, it oan also ba decided whether data for billing, on the basis of the information actually displayed, and/or additional data for analysis should be collected in the tranamitter/receivers 3l"Sn installed in the n departments 2.

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

The handheld unit 3 with battery backup serves to exchange data between the laptop 1 and the various transmitter/receivers 5χ-5η, eo that expensive hard wiring between a central station and the individual transmitter/receiver units 5χ-5η is avoided, Ae shown in Figs, 3 and 4, a display 3a, corresponding to the displays 9 of the receiver/transmitters 8, is provided in the handheld unit 3.

As indicated by a dot-dash arrow in Fig, 4, a file card 3b can be 1ΰ selectively associated with the handheld unit 3.

As already mentioned, from the laptop l, the formatted data ere transmitted over the cable le to the handheld unit 3. For monitoring purposes, the information can be shown on the display aa of tho handheld unit a immediately after inputting. The -5 information can also be inscribed in a data card 3b, for data protection.

As schematically shown in Fig. 3, from the handheld unit 3, the information along with the formatting instructions is transmitted, by means of infrared rays 6'indicated by a dot-dash 20 arrow, to the transmitter/receiver unit 5 installed in the applicable department 2. For instance, an LSD (not shown) provided on the handheld unit 3 may indicate successful transmission by lighting up in green, and by lighting up in red, an LSD can indicate defective transmission. Zn the latter case, 25 the transmission should naturally be repeated. As indicated by a dot-dash arrow 6", the information that has just been fed into the transmitter/receiver 5 can likewise be called up again from it by infrared for monitoring purposes.

The aforementioned billing file can also be called with the 30 handheld unit 3 from all the transmitter/receivers 5χ-5η at any time. In this case again, if an LED provided on the handheld unit 3 lights up in green, this indicates satisfactory transmission.

After a successful transmission, the data file in the applicable transmitter/receiver 5χ-5η is suitably erased, so that it is then available only in the handheld unit 3, For reasons of security, the data file should therefore be stored immediately in a data card 3b.

If the handheld unit 3 is to be used to prepare for an analysis, then the transmitter/receivers 5χ-8η are numbered with sequential location identification numbers, with the aid of the handheld unit 3, so that later, to prepare the analysis, the lo location identification numbers of tha various transmitter/receivers 5χ-5η can be read out again. Sequential numbering of all the transmitter/receivers 5χ-5η is absolutely necessary in order that the data files stored in the various transmitter/receivers 5χ-5η can be assigned perfectly te a specific point, that is, to a very specific department 2, in the store layout of a self-service store, supermarket, hypermarket or the like.

The handheld unit 3 oan also too uood to adjust a cIoqX provided in the tranemitter/receivers 5χ-5η at any time, via the infrared path 6', so that the handheld unit 3 is also assigned the function of a master clock. Both to prepare an analysis and merely for functional monitoring, the acknowledgement data file prepared in the various tranemitter/receivers 5χ-5η can be called up at any time by these tranemitter/receivers 5χ-3η, output to the 25 handheld unit 3 via the infrared path 6, and suitably automatically inscribed at the same time into a data card 3b, The various transmitter/receivers 5χ-5η serve on the one hand to transmit information to the receiver/transmitters 8χ-8Β, with the displays 9i-9a provided in them, mounted on the shopping 30 carts 7χ-7Λ, and on the other hand for developing the aforementioned billing and acknowledgement data files. The various transmitter/receivers 5i"5n are installed in the n departments 2 for which they are specifically intended, for instance being hung at a height of 2.5 to 4 m. Zither a mains power unit (not shown) or a charge unit (likewise not shown) is assigned to the transmitter/receivers 5χ-5η. Zn normal use, the transmitter/receivers 5i-5n have at least approximately four weeks of battery backup.

By means of the handheld unit 3, the information to be transmitted to· the particular department 2 is stored in the transmitter/receiver 5 provided there. Once this has been done, the transmitter/recelver 5 automatically begins to transmit both its number, in the form of the location identification number, and the operating and formatting instructions. As soon as the reception of the number and the other instructions has been acknowledged by a receiver/tranamitter unit 6 mounted on a Shopping cart 7, then the special information intended for the particular department is transmitted, satisfactory reception is then confirmed by the applicable receiver/transmitter δ or by means of the handheld unit 3. As already mentioned, if necessary, a billing data file can be developed with these confirmations, and can then be called up at any time using the handheld unit 3. The number of the applicable tranemltter/receiver 5i-Bn, in the form Of its location identification number, and the information broadcast to it are then transmitted jointly, automatically, so as to preclude mistakes. (Once satisfactory reception has been signaled by the handheld unit 3, the data file that has just been oalled up is canceled in the applicable transmitter/receiver unit 5l"5n.) Zn order to enable sending the same information even to departments that cover a large area, ten transmitter/receivers 6 can for instance be wired together, with any arbitrary transmitter/receiver unit 5 forming the starting point. The rest of the transmitter/receivers fi are then connected in series via 11IE 904670 synchronising oables to the transmitter/receiver 5 acting as the starting point.

Each of the transmitter/receivers 5χ - 5n can be used for pure analysis, or for analysis combined with information transmission. To do so, however, a memory expansion must be made for each transmitter/receiver 5, so that the looation identification number and the various operating and formatting instructions can be programmed in along with the information, by means of the handheld unit 3. As soon as the transmission from the handheld unit 3 to tha applicable transmitter/receiver S has been effeoted, the transmitter/receivers. transmit both its number, in the form of the location identification number, and the operating and formatting instruction. As soon as these data have been acknowledged, with the code number of the unit, by a receiver/tranemitter unit β mounted on a shopping oart 7, the code number of the acknowledging receiver/tranemitter 8 is stored in memory along with the time in the acknowledgement data file referred to initially. since information is generally stored in the applicable transmitter/receiver 5, it is then transmitted to this reeeiver/transmitter B over the infrared path 8 (Fig. 1).

(However, if the acknowledgement is effected from a handheld unit 3, tlxoii nw Ui lug Xa elwicC Xu Uus awKnowleclgement Cato file of the transmitter/receiver 5; instead, only the information is transmitted. in that case, an indication is then made on the handheld unit 3 that the transmitter/receiver 5 has been set to the analysis mode.) The acknowledgement data files stored in memory in the transmitter/receivers 5χ-5η can be read out by means of the handheld unit 3, and are then automatically immediately recorded on a data card 3b. If there is a computer-controlled linkage of all the acknowledgement data files, a customer route Study can then be made. -13IE 904670 The display 9 provided in each receiver/transmitter 8 serves to display the information transmitted by atransmitter/receiver 5, The receiver/transmitters 8 also acknowledge satisfactory reception of the operating and formatting instructions and of the transmitted information, along with the code number of a particular unit, which was either assigned to it at the factory or input by means of the handheld unit 3.

As ean be Been from Figs. 2a and 2b, each receiver/transmitter β is mounted inside a basket 7c of a shopping cart 7 (Fig. 1), on the top front edge of the basket oraoiselv opposite the pushbar 7a of each shopping cart 7, with the aid of a special tool (not shown) by means of a hook-like L-shaped attachment sc embodied on the back of its housing 8a, and is aimed in such a way that the front 8b of the housing containing the display 9 in the form of an LCD module is oriented toward the field of view of a customer pushing the shopping cart 7, as indicated in Fig, 1 by an arrow 10. Each receiver/transmitter 8 also has a printed wiring board 8d, suggested in a sectional view, and an electronics module 8e, Each of the receiver/transmitters 8 mounted on shopping carts 7 draws energy from batteries, not shown further here, which are recharged by the ambient light with the aid of solar cells, likewise not shown. As a result, every receiver / transmitter unit 8 mounted on a shopping cart 7 and having a display 9 is immediately ready for use. \e ooon oa a reo»iv*r/feran»jflitt«r S «ntvxs» Lhe legion of a transmitter / receiver unit 5, the receiver/transmitter 8 acknowledges the satisfactory reception of the operating and formatting instruction by broadcasting its number. Typically, the transmitter/receiver 8 will then broadcast the information stored 30 in it, which is transmitted by infrared rays 6 to the receiver/transmitter 8 loaated in its vicinity and stored in that unit. -1335 This means that the customer does not need to remain below a transmitter/receiver 5 in order to receive the complete information. The receiver/transmitter B checks for defective transmission of the information and confirms it. Not until satisfactory reception of the information has been confirmed by the receiver/transmitter β the information, transmitted over the infrared path 6, is..shown on its'display 9 in accordance vith the formatting instructions.

To this end, in the receiver/transmitter 8, the information is shifted into a shift register, for instanoe with a dock frequency of is kHz. After every eight (8) bits of information shifted in, a dock pulse is generated, and as a result this byte cf Information, new present in parallel for» in tho asoxz format is shifted into the display 9. This course of events nov takes place another 79 times in succession, for example, so that in this case 80 alphanumeric characters are displayed, for instance in two lines. The output formatting is generated by tha electroniaB of the receiver/transmitter Θ. -14IE 904670

Claims (16)

1. CLAIMS I 1, A method for supplying various departments of a large self-service store equipped with a number of shopping carts with department-specifia information, in which method, each cf the items cf information specifio to a department (3), of predetermined length, ia digitally stored in memory in decentralised fashion in a transmitter / receiver unit (5) assigned to the particular department and then transmitted in a predetermined cycle in serial form over an infrared path (6), and by means of receiver/transmitter units (8) mounted on all the shopping carts (7) of the store, the transmitted information is received by the receiver/transmitter units (8) of the shopping carts (7) located in the. particular department' (2), stored in buffer memory there, and reproduced on a display (9) of the receiver/transmitter units (8).

2. The method aa defined by claim X, characterized in that immediately after each playback cf information specific to a particular department (2) on the display (9) of the receiver/transmitter (8) mounted on the associated shopping cart (7), a signal confirming this visual playback of information is transmitted via an infrared path (6 z j to the transmitter/receiver unit (5) provided in that particular department (2) and recorded there.

3. The method as defined by claim X, characterized in that the playback of the information specific tc a department (2) on the display (9) of a receiver/transmitter (8) is controlled with the aid of specialised code pulses suoh that the applicable information is never played back except completely, from the beginning. -15IE 904670

4. λ method aa defined by one of olaims 1 or 2, characterized in that each of the receiver/transmitters (8) mounted on the shopping carts (7) is provided with a code number, and that each code number of the receiver/transmitters (8) is automatically output tc all those transmitter/receivers (5) that are mounted at sampling points of the store that are of interest in terms of the route taken by a customer.

5. λ method as defined by one of olaims 1 or 2, characterized in that each of the receiver/transmitters (8) mounted on the shopping carts (7) is provided with a code number, and that the code number of each of these receiver/transmitters (8) is sampled by all those transmitter/receivers (5} that are mounted at sampling pointe of the store that are of interest in terms of tha route taken by a customer.

6. λ method as defined by one of claims 2, 4 or 5, characterized in that in the transmitter/receivers (5), the preciee instant and date of reception are assigned to each signal confirming a visual playback and/or each code number received of one of the receiver/transmitters (8) mounted on the shopping carts (7).

7. λ method as defined by one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that each of the transmitter/receivers (5), which are mounted at sampling points in the store of interest in terms of the route taken by a customer, are provided with s location identification coda; that each of these tranemitter/receivers (S) outputs its location identification code over an infrared path (6) to eaah of -16IE 904670 1 the receiver/transmitters (8) mounted on the shopping arts (7) that enter the region Qg the applicable infrared path (6) ? and that each received identification code of a transmitter/receiver (5) ie stored in the receiver/traneaitter 5 unite (B) of the shopping carte (7) along with the instant and date of reception.

8. An apparatus for performing the method as defined by one of olaims 1-7, characterized by infrared tranBmitter/recelvere (5) If) vith a memory, which or* provided in departments (2) Of a large self-service store, can be loaded via an Infrared path (6 1 ) vith information specific to the applicable department, and output the department-specific information over an infrared path (6) in a predetermined cycle, and 15 by infrared receiver/transmitters (S') *ith a display (

9. ), mounted on the shopping carta (7) of the store, for receiving the department-specific information over the infrared path (6) and visually playing it back. 20 9. An apparatus as defined by claim 6, characterized in that the infrared receiver/transmitter (8) with the display (9) is mounted on each shopping eart (7) on the front upper edge of the basket of the shopping cart (7), opposite the pushbar (7a), in the field of view of the customer.

10. The apparatus as defined by claim e, characterized in that the display (9) of eaoh receiver/transmitter (8) is a fourline display for 40 alphanumeric characters per line. 30

11. The apparatus ae defined by claim 8, characterized by a handheld unit (3) with battery backup, having a display (3a) corresponding tc the displays (9) of the receiver/transmitters -17IE 904670 1 (8), for loading information specifio to the applicable department (2) and with a location identification number into the memories of the receiver/transmitters (8) provided in decentralized fashion in the various departments (2).

12. The apparatus as defined by claim 8, characterized in that each infrared receiver/tranemitter (8) has an infrared transmitter, which transmits a playback of information on its display (9) via an infrared path (8 1 ) to the infrared 10 transmitter/receiver unit (5) provided in the applicable department (2), for confirmation.

13. The apparatus as defined by claim 8, characterized by infrared receiver/transmitters (8) having an infrared transmitter 15 for automatic transmission of its code number via an infrared path (6’) to infrared transmitter/receivers (5) provided in departments (2).

14. The apparatus as defined by olaim 8, characterized by 20 infrared transmitter/receivers (5) having an infrared transmitter for broadcasting its location identification cods over an infrared path (6) to each of the infrared receiver/transmitters (8} in the region of the infrared path (8}, and by infrared receiver/transmitters (8}, each having one 2$ memory, for storing the looation identification code of the infrared transmitter/receiver (5) provided in the applicable department.

15. Apparatus for supplying information substantially as hereinbefore 2Q described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

16. A method for supplying information substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED THIS 21st day of December, 1990 -18BY: SIGNED: TIMKINS & CO., Applicant's Agents Λ——< 5, Dartmouth Road, DUBLIN, 6. iloltC zauoLmuSΥύΤΕΜΕ GmbH