JP2000090149A - Customer flow line generating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically gather precise movement information on customers. SOLUTION: This device is provided with an identification card 1 which is carried by a customer and capable of radio communication, and antennas 3 which are arranged in a store. Further, the device is provided with a communication controller 5 which controls the communication with the identification card through the respective antennas 3 and which recognizes identification information of the identification card 1 to detect the position of the customer carrying the identification card 1, and a computer 7 which inputs position detection data for each identification information by the communication control device 5 and which gathers the movement information on the customer to output as a line of flow.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus which collects movement information of a customer in a store or the like and creates a flow line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art If the movement information of customers in a store can be obtained, it can be used as an important judgment material in considering an optimum store layout and display of products, and in increasing sales of products. .

[0003] Conventionally, the movement information of a customer in such a store is analyzed by a person in charge of analysis using a number of surveillance cameras operating during business hours to see the customer's position with his / her own eyes. Was collected by writing down on it.

[0004]

However, collecting customer movement information by such a conventional method is labor-intensive, labor-intensive and error-prone.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a customer flow line creation device capable of efficiently collecting highly reliable customer movement information without using human eyes. The purpose is to:

[0006]

That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a customer flow line creation device for performing wireless communication at a predetermined timing, and transmitting data from the wireless communication device carried by the customer. Response means for transmitting identification information to the request, customer position detection means for detecting the position of a customer having the response means based on the identification information from the response means received by the wireless communication means, Customer information storage means for storing attribute information of a customer possessed for each piece of information; position information collection means for collecting position detection information from the customer position detection means and storing moving position data for each piece of identification information; Based on the storage information of the information storage unit and the storage information of the position information collection unit, a flow chart showing the position of a customer who moves with time for any customer is shown. A flow line generation means for forming, characterized by comprising an output means for outputting a flow line diagram created by the flow line generation unit.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the customer is provided with a response means capable of wireless communication such as an identification card in advance,
By arranging a plurality of antennas in an area where the movement information is desired to be collected, such as in a store, and performing communication at a predetermined timing such as a fixed period by wireless communication means, the position information of the customer moving with time is automatically collected. Can be displayed as a flow line.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the customer creating apparatus of the first aspect, an input unit for inputting a setting condition is provided, and the flow line creating unit stores the setting condition and the storage information of the customer information storing unit. The present invention is characterized in that it comprises means for extracting corresponding moving position data from the stored information by the position information collecting means based on the position information collecting means, and means for creating a flow line of the customer using the extracted moving position data.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, by inputting setting conditions such as customer conditions and data collection date and time,
Any desired movement information can be output as a flow line on a screen or on paper.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the customer flow line creation device according to the first or second aspect, the output means includes means for outputting a flow line in different colors according to the attribute information of the customer. I do.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the customer flow line creating device according to any one of the first to third aspects, the output means outputs the flow line in different colors according to the customer's travel time zone. It is characterized by having.

According to the third and fourth aspects of the present invention, the color of the flow line is changed and displayed according to the customer's gender, age group, store entrance time zone, etc., so that the comparison and analysis of the trend of the customer becomes easier.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an apparatus for creating a customer flow line according to an embodiment of the present invention. An identification card 1 possessed by a customer and capable of wireless communication, and a plurality of antennas 3 arranged in a store are shown.
And a communication control device 5 for controlling communication between the antenna 3 and the identification card 1 to detect the position of the customer holding the identification card 1, and inputting customer position detection data by the communication control device 5 to move the customer. It is constituted by a computer 7 that collects information and outputs it as a flow line.

The communication control device 5 includes a transmission / reception unit 9 for transmitting and receiving radio signals between the antenna 3 and the identification card 1 and a position detection unit 11 for detecting a position of a customer based on a result of communication by the transmission / reception unit 9.

A computer 7 connected to the communication control device 5 collects the customer's position data from the communication control device 5 and stores it as travel position information together with time data for each ID, and a position information collection unit 13 for each ID in advance. A customer information storage unit 15 for storing attribute information such as a customer's name, gender, age, and address; an input unit 17 for inputting a request or setting condition from an operator; and a customer information storage unit 15 in response to a request from the input unit 17 With reference to, the requested movement information (corresponding to the setting condition) of the customer is extracted from the position information collection unit 13 and a flow line creation unit 19 for creating a flow line, and the created flow line is stored in a store. An output unit 21 that outputs the information overlaid on top
And a CR for displaying output data from the output unit 21
A display device 23 such as a T or LCD; an input device 25 such as a keyboard and a mouse for inputting various requests or setting conditions by an operator; and a printer 27 for recording output data from the output unit 21 on paper. Is connected.

The communication control device 5 causes the transmitting / receiving unit 9 to transmit a transmission request, for example, a specific frequency from each antenna 3 at a predetermined timing such as a fixed period, and to transmit identification requests in the communication area via each antenna 3. The identification information (ID) transmitted from the card 1 is received. In addition, the identification card 1
It is issued for each customer, and when a radio of a specific frequency is received, for example, a unique frequency is transmitted as an ID.

Further, the communication control device 5 detects the position of the identification card 1, that is, the customer who owns the identification card 1, by the position detector 11 based on the transmission and reception of each antenna 3 performed at a predetermined timing. As the position detection method, the antenna 3
For example, as shown in FIG.
At a fixed interval, and the method of detecting the position of the identification card 1 according to which antenna 3 it communicates with, or the time difference of communication of at least two or more antennas 3 with the same identification card 1, the identification card 1 There is a method for detecting the position of

The computer 7 collects, by ID, customer position data detected by the communication control device 5 at a predetermined timing such as a predetermined period by the position information collection unit 13, and as time-series moving position information together with time data. Remember.

The flow line creation unit 19 receives, from the input unit 17, a flow line creation request input through the input device 25 and setting conditions for selecting a flow line creation target from the input unit 17. Is extracted, and the corresponding movement information is extracted from the position information collection unit 13 to create a movement line indicating the customer's movement trajectory in the store.

The output unit 21 outputs the flow diagram created by the flow route creation unit 19 to the display device 23 or the printer 27 by superimposing the flow diagram on the shop floor plan. At that time, if necessary, the flow line of each customer is displayed in different colors according to gender, age, entrance hours, and the like.

FIG. 3 shows a processing example of the customer flow line creation device of the present embodiment, and the operation of the present embodiment will be described according to this flowchart.

The antenna 3 placed in the store transmits a request for transmission of a specific frequency at a fixed cycle by the communication control device 5 (step 100). Upon receiving a specific frequency from the antenna 3 (step 101), the identification card 1 carried by the customer in the store transmits a unique frequency serving as an ID (step 102).

When the antenna 3 receives the radio wave from the identification card 1 (step 103), the communication control device 5 identifies the customer by the reception frequency (ID) (step 10).
4) The position of the customer is detected from the communication status with each antenna 3 for each ID (step 105) and transmitted to the computer 7 (step 106).

The computer 7 collects the customer position data for each ID transmitted from the communication control device 5 together with the time as customer movement information (step 107). If there is a flow line display request (step 108), A flow line indicating the customer's movement trajectory is created based on the customer movement information (step 109), and is displayed on the display device 23 together with the in-store layout as shown in FIG. 4 (110).

In the example of the screen shown in FIG. 4, only the flow line 31 is shown. By displaying the time along the flow line 31, for example, at regular time intervals, not only the movement trajectory but also the staying trajectory is displayed. Information on time and place of stay can be presented.

Also, by displaying the flow lines of a plurality of customers by gender, by age, by time of entering a store, and the like by color, it is possible to compare and examine the tendency of customer movement information, Can be more effectively utilized and analyzed.

As is clear from the above description, according to the present embodiment, the movement information of each customer is automatically collected,
It can be displayed or recorded as a flow line. As a result, the labor and time required for collecting the movement information can be significantly reduced, and a large number of movement information can be collected. It is possible to output the information in a format that is easy to see, and it is possible to understand the movement status of the customer in the store and the tendency of the store to stop by, and to use the information to improve the store layout and the product display at the store.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to automatically collect customer movement information without human intervention and easily create a visually understandable flow line.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a customer flow line creation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing an installation example of an antenna of the customer flow line creation device according to the present invention in a store.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing example of the customer flow line creation device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an example of a screen displaying a customer flow line of the customer flow line creation device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Identification card 3 ... Antenna 5 ... Communication control device 7 ... Computer 9 ... Transmission / reception part 11 ... Position detection part 13 ... Position information collection part 15 ... Customer information Storage unit 17 Input unit 19 Flow line creation unit 21 Output unit 23 Display device 25 Input device 27 Printer

Claims (4)

[Claims] A wireless communication means for performing wireless communication at a predetermined timing; a response means possessed by a customer for transmitting identification information in response to a transmission request from the wireless communication means; Customer position detecting means for detecting a position of a customer having the response means based on the identification information from the response means, customer information storage means for storing attribute information of the customer having the identification information, A position information collection unit that collects position detection information from the customer position detection unit and stores moving position data for each piece of the identification information, based on storage information of the customer information storage unit and storage information of the position information collection unit, A flow line creating means for creating a flow chart representing the position of the customer who moves with time for any customer by a flow line; An output unit for outputting a flow chart, a customer flow creation apparatus. 2. An input means for inputting a setting condition,
Means for extracting corresponding moving position data from the storage information by the position information collecting means based on the setting conditions and the information stored in the customer information storing means; and using the extracted moving position data. Means for creating a customer's flow line by means of the customer's flow line. 3. The customer flow line creation device according to claim 1, wherein said output means has means for outputting a flow line in different colors according to customer attribute information. 4. The customer flow line creation according to claim 1, wherein said output means has means for outputting a flow line in different colors according to a customer's travel time zone. apparatus.