JP2000242702A - System and terminal for guiding article position - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make speedily findable out a target commodity without loading burden onto a customer by displaying stored information of the position of the commodity on the basis of a commodity code acquired by accessing a host computer on a display. SOLUTION: When commodity information including commodity code is downloaded from the host computer of a shop online while using a PC terminal at home and a commodity desired to purchase is selected while watching the commodity information displayed on a screen, the desired code is written on a recording medium 2 by a medium reader/writer. At the time of going to the shop, a customer carries the recording medium 2, on which the commodity code is written, with him. When the customer visits the shop and inserts the recording medium 2 to a medium data reading part 14 of a commodity retrieving device 1 installed in the shop, on the basis of the read commodity code and operating instruction contents inputted from an input part 12, a control part 11 reads commodity display position data out of a commodity data storage part 15, displays the display position of that commodity on a display part 13 and reports it to the customer.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an information terminal,
In particular, the present invention relates to a product location guidance terminal used in a large-scale store such as a supermarket or a department store.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a customer searches for a product to be purchased in a large store, he or she has to ask the store clerk to search by himself or herself for guidance information in the store. However, this approach forces the customer to spend time and effort. Therefore, as a technique for solving these problems, there is an information display system described in JP-A-8-30691.

[0003] As shown in FIG. 8, the system includes an information database 1 storing all information related to in-store guidance, a display unit 2 a for displaying in-store guidance information, and a shopper specifying a product of purchase information. And a control unit 2c for controlling the display unit and the like, and is connected to an information database by wire or the like. The received guidance information device 2, a receiving unit 3a for receiving a signal from the transmitting unit, a first memory unit 3c for storing data such as a display position of a product desired to be purchased, and a data based on the data from the memory unit. , A display unit 3d for displaying the display position of the product desired to be purchased as an image, a rechargeable power supply unit 3k, and a control unit 3b for controlling the reception unit. Composed of the broadcasting receiving apparatus 3.

[0004] Specifically, a guide map and sales merchandise in the store are displayed on the display unit of the guide information transmitting device installed at the entrance of the store or at another predetermined position. The shopper looks at the display image, and based on the designated input from the input unit provided in the guide information transmitting device, the control unit of the guide information transmitting device reads the display position of the desired product from the information database of the information center and the display position of the display position. The data relating to the course up to the position is read out, and this data is transmitted from the transmission unit. On the other hand, a guidance information receiving device is provided in a shopping cart or the like.
The transmission data from the transmitting unit is received by the receiving unit of the guide information receiving device. Based on the received data, the display position of the product desired to be purchased and the course up to that position are displayed on the display unit of the guide information receiving device. The shopper proceeds to the target position while looking at the display screen, and obtains the desired product.

As a technique for solving the above problem, there is a system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-103352. In this system, when a shopper inputs product information that he / she wants to purchase from a handy terminal, the store information processing device connected to the handy terminal reaches the display location from the designated product display location and the shopper's position. The route up to the handy terminal is answered.

[0006]

However, the prior art described above has a drawback that it takes a long time to input the product information because the shopper inputs the product information after arriving at the store. As a result, from the viewpoint of the customer, it has been faster to ask the store clerk for the display position of the desired product or to search for the desired product by walking, as in the related art, rather than inputting the product information.

[0007] Even if the merchandise information can be preliminarily input at home, it is not realistic in terms of cost to prepare each terminal only for the customer. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a technology that can quickly find a target product without imposing a burden on a customer and that is excellent in cost.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a merchandise position guidance system, which stores at least a merchandise name and a merchandise code of the merchandise; A host computer having access control means for transmitting the product code to the information terminal that has accessed the product code, and accessing the host computer;
An information terminal that acquires a product code of a desired product and stores the obtained product code in a recording medium; a medium data reading unit that reads the product code stored in the storage medium; and a display of the product input by the store A product data storage unit for storing position information, an input unit for a user to operate the terminal, a control unit for searching and processing data in the product data storage unit based on a product code and an operation instruction input; The present invention is achieved by a product position guidance system having a product position guidance terminal having a display unit for displaying a processing result in the control unit.

Further, the information terminal has a display means for displaying a product name transmitted from the host computer on the display means, and a product corresponding to a product name selected from the displayed product names. The code is stored in a recording medium. Further, an object of the present invention is a product position guidance terminal, a medium data reading unit for reading a product code stored in a storage medium, and product data for storing information on a display position of the product input by the store. A storage unit,
An input unit for a user to operate the terminal, a control unit for searching and processing data in a product data storage unit based on a product code and an operation instruction input, and a display for displaying a processing result in the control unit And a merchandise position information terminal.

The product position search terminal of the present invention has a size and weight that can be carried around, and displays data processed by a product code reading unit and a processing unit that reads product codes stored in a recording medium. It has a display unit. The product code is downloaded by accessing the host computer of the store using a personal computer at home, and the downloaded product code is written on a recording medium.

The customer brings the recording medium to the store and inserts it into the product code reading section of the product position search terminal of the store. The control unit of the product position search terminal converts the product code from the product data storage unit based on the product code recorded on the recording medium read by the medium data reading unit and the instruction content input by the user from the input unit. The data of where the corresponding product is located is read and displayed on the display unit. Shoppers can easily search for products while carrying this terminal.

[0012]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the product search terminal 1. The product search terminal 1 is a storage medium 2
(For example, a floppy disk), a medium data reading unit 14 for reading a product code stored therein, and a product data storage unit 15 for storing information such as a display position of a product input by the store.
An input unit 12 for a customer to give an operation instruction to a terminal; and a control unit 11 for processing data and controlling the entire terminal device.
And a display unit 13 for displaying a processing result of the data. The product data storage unit 15 stores a product code and a display position of a product corresponding to the product code in association with each other, and an example of this table is shown in FIG.

Next, a system for storing a product code in the storage medium 2 will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a system for storing a product code in the storage medium 2. In the figure, reference numeral 3 denotes a host computer of a store. The host computer 3 has a product database 31 storing a product code, a product name corresponding to the product code, and information on the product. The product database 31 has a table in which a product code, a product name corresponding to the product code, and information on the product are stored in association with each other. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, a product code 123, a product name xxx, and a detergent of product information are stored in association with each other.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a home PC (personal computer) terminal. The PC terminal 4 accesses the host computer 3 to download product information (including a product code). A medium reading / writing device 5 for writing the downloaded product code to the storage medium 2
Having. Next, the operation of the system configured as described above will be described.

First, at home, using the PC terminal 4, merchandise information including a merchandise code is downloaded online from the host computer 3 of the store. As a method of searching for a product, for example, when a customer desires a detergent, when the user inputs a detergent on a search screen, the host computer 3 searches the product database 31 for product information whose detergent is a detergent, and searches for a corresponding product name. The information is transmitted to the PC terminal 4 and the PC
The terminal 4 displays a product name. Further, a configuration may be adopted in which a product code is searched from a product name.

When the customer selects a desired product while viewing the product information displayed on the screen of the PC terminal 4, the desired product code is written into the storage medium 2 by the medium reading / writing device 5. When going to the store, the customer brings the recording medium 2 on which the product code is written. When the customer comes to the store and inserts the recording medium 2 into the medium data reading unit 14 of the product search device 1 provided in the store, the control unit 11 reads the read product code and the operation instruction input from the input unit 12. Based on the contents, the commodity display position data is read from the commodity data storage section 15, and the display position of the commodity is displayed on the display section 13 to inform the customer.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the product position guidance terminal 1 in the present embodiment. The display unit 13 is configured as an LCD panel, and the input unit is configured as a touch panel. FIG. 6 is an initial screen displayed on the display unit 13 immediately after the customer inserts the storage medium 2 into the product location guidance terminal 1. The name of the product corresponding to the product code is displayed on the product name display section 13a. If the number of items is too large to be displayed on the screen, the screen is scrolled by touching the scroll instruction unit 13b.
Touching the product name switches to the product position display screen.

FIG. 7 shows a product position display screen. The cursor 13c flashes at the position of the corresponding product on the in-store layout drawing to notify the customer of the display position.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a means for quickly searching for a target product without consuming extra time and labor for the customer.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a product search terminal 1.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a table of information stored in a product data storage unit 15;

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a system for storing a product code in a storage medium 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a table stored in a product database 31;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a product position guidance terminal 1.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an initial screen displayed on the display unit 13 immediately after the storage medium 2 is inserted into the product position guidance terminal 1.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a product position display screen displayed on a display unit 13;

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Merchandise position guidance terminal 2 Storage medium 3 Store side host computer 4 PC terminal 5 Medium read / write device 11 Control unit 12 Input unit 13 Display unit 14 Medium data reading unit 15 Product data storage unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A product location guidance system, comprising: a storage device storing at least a product name and a product code of the product; and transmitting the product code stored in the storage device to an accessing information terminal. A host computer having access control means; an information terminal for accessing the host computer to obtain a product code of a desired product; storing the obtained product code in a recording medium; and a product code stored in the storage medium. , A product data storage unit for storing information on display positions of products input by the store, an input unit for the user to operate the terminal, and a product code and operation instruction input. Product having a control unit for searching and processing data in a product data storage unit, and a display unit for displaying a processing result of the control unit A product position guidance system comprising a position guidance terminal. 2. The information terminal has a display unit, displays a product name transmitted from the host computer on the display unit, and displays a product corresponding to a product name selected from the displayed product names. The article position guidance system according to claim 1, wherein the code is stored in a recording medium. 3. A merchandise position guidance terminal, comprising: a medium data reading unit for reading a merchandise code stored in a storage medium; a merchandise data storage unit for storing information on a display position of the merchandise input by the store; An input unit for a user to operate the terminal; a control unit for searching and processing data in a product data storage unit based on a product code and an operation instruction input; and a display for displaying a processing result in the control unit And a product location guide terminal.