JP2005270558A - Merchandise information management system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a merchandise information management system capable of recognizing merchandise displayed on a sales floor in real time, quickly and accurately marking down a markdown merchandise and performing accurate markdown display. <P>SOLUTION: This merchandise information management system 1 comprises an RFID system 3 for reading the information of a plurality of RFID tags 8 attached to the merchandise through an RFID reader 10 and managing information in an RFID server 9, an electronic inventory tag system 4 for processing markdown information received from the RFID system 3 in an inventory tag server 11 and performing display at an electronic inventory tag 12 and a markdown merchandise display device 13 through a transceiver 14, a label printer 5 for writing the information to the RFID tags 8, and a POS system 6 provided with an electronic cash register. They are connected to a LAN 7 installed inside a store and controlled by a store controller 2 storing a merchandise information file. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a product information management system that displays a price of a product by arranging a plurality of electronic display devices on a sales floor, and in particular, a price after a product discount that is changed with the passage of time after manufacture or processing of the product. And a product information management system for displaying unit prices.

  Fresh foods such as meat, seafood, vegetables and fruits, processed foods such as dairy products and hams, foods such as dried foods and retort foods, etc., the freshness and flavor of the products decrease over time after production and processing . Therefore, at the time of manufacture or processing, the date of manufacture, date of processing, date of consumption, expiration date, quality retention date, expiration date, etc. are displayed on the container, etc., which are used as a guide when consumers purchase. As a matter of course, consumers check the production date and time displayed on the products displayed on the sales floor and try to select as new a product as possible. If so, new products will be sold, and products with old manufacturing dates will remain unsold. Distributors devise measures such as processing unsold products into other products and reusing them, but those that cannot be processed must be discarded, which affects costs and wastes resources. There was a problem of becoming. In addition, if old products are left unsold forever, only the old products stand out in the sales floor, which has a problem of deteriorating the image of a store that handles fresh food. Therefore, the retailer regularly checks the date and time of manufacture of the product, and if a certain amount of time has passed after manufacture, the product is moved to the front row of the display shelf to make it easier to pick up or lower the price. Is trying to prevent the unsold sale of old products.

  However, there is a problem that it takes time and labor to check the date and time of manufacture for each product displayed on the sales floor in order to determine the price-reduced product. Therefore, in order to alleviate the time and effort of such confirmation work, the product production time is displayed on the electronic shelf label, and the product that has fallen freshness is automatically judged and displayed on the electronic shelf label. An electronic shelf label control device, an electronic shelf label, and an electronic shelf label system have been proposed (see Patent Document 1). This electronic shelf label system makes a notification of a drop in freshness based on a product freshness determination time table recorded in advance in a storage device, and notifies it. For the merchandise determined to be, the store clerk is notified of a drop in freshness by blinking the display screen of the electronic shelf label placed.

JP 2002-128278 A

  However, the above system displays the shelf label based on the freshness determination time table of products recorded in the storage device in advance, and the shelf label display is not updated unless the freshness determination time table is updated. Will cause a discrepancy between the product actually displayed on the display shelf and the shelf label display. For example, if a customer is moving in a store with a reduced price product in a shopping basket, the freshness determination time table is not updated until the product is settled at least using an electronic cash register in the conventional method. There was a problem that the display of the price-reduced product remained on the shelf label even though the product disappeared from the shelf. If the payment for the product is settled in a short time, such a discrepancy between the display of the shelf label and the display status of the product will not be a problem. There was a problem that it would betray the expectation of the customer who was going to purchase, and the customer's willingness to purchase was reduced.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and the purpose of the present invention is to accurately grasp the products displayed on the sales floor, and to promptly perform the price reduction processing of the price-reduced products based on the accurate information on the products. Another object of the present invention is to provide a product information management system that can be accurately performed. It is another object of the present invention to provide a product information management system that can perform price reduction display based on accurate quantity information of displayed products.

  In order to achieve the above object, the product information management system of the present invention stores an electronic display device that is arranged at a sales floor and displays price information such as product price and unit price in a rewritable manner, and individually assigned identification information A wireless tag attached to the product, a reading unit that reads the identification information stored in the wireless tag, and a storage unit that stores product information including a product name, a product price, a unit price, and the like corresponding to the identification information; An information processing unit that specifies a product name based on the identification information and the product information read by the reading unit, and obtains the price information of the price-reduced product that is priced according to an elapsed time after manufacture or processing of the product; And displaying the price information of the price-reduced product obtained by the information processing means on the electronic display device. To have.

  Further, the information processing means has a function of totaling the quantity for each item of the product displayed on the sales floor by unit price, and the quantity for each item of the product obtained by the information processing means is the price information. And displaying on the electronic display device.

  Further, the electronic display device is arranged for each item of merchandise displayed on the sales floor, and displays the merchandise for each item.

  The electronic display device may display a plurality of price-reduced products displayed on the sales floor collectively.

  According to the product information management system according to the present invention, the identification information of the product actually displayed on the sales floor is acquired, the product to be reduced is selected, and the reduced price and unit price are displayed on the electronic display device. As a result, it is possible to display in real time the price cuts and unit prices of products that are actually displayed on the sales floor, and provide a product information management system that never displays price cuts and unit prices of sold products. Can be planned.

  In addition, according to the present invention, since the display quantity of the price reduction target product displayed on the sales floor is displayed on the electronic display device, the number of products displayed on the sales floor can be grasped at a glance, and the price reduction It is possible to provide a product information management system that is effective for stimulating the purchase motivation of customers who have come to the store in anticipation of purchasing products.

  Further, according to the present invention, since the display quantity of the product displayed on the sales floor is displayed on the electronic display device, the number of products displayed can be grasped at a glance, and the inventory management of the sales staff is easy. A product information management system can be provided.

  A preferred embodiment of a merchandise information management system according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a merchandise information management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In a store such as a supermarket, product IDs stored in RFID tags (wireless tags) attached to merchandise such as fresh food If the product name is identified by reading the number (identification information) and it is determined that the product falls under the price-reduced product based on the time elapsed since the product was manufactured or processed, 1 shows a configuration of a product information management system for displaying on a shelf label.
As shown in FIG. 1, the product information management system 1 includes a store controller 2, an RFID (Radio Frequency-Identification) system 3, an electronic shelf label system 4, a label printer 5, and a POS (Point Of Sales) system 6. These are connected to a LAN (Local Area Network) 7 installed in the store.

  The store controller 2 is provided to control the entire store system including goods in / out of the store, stock, sales management, etc., and the product ID number, product number, product name, product production location and purchase A product information file storing product information such as the purchase price, purchase date, purchase date, and price reduction information is stored. The product ID number is a unique number assigned to each product, and the product information file stored in the store controller 2 can be searched by this ID number.

  The RFID system 3 includes an RFID tag 8 attached to each product, an RFID server 9 that controls the system, and an RFID reader 10 that transmits and receives information between them.

  The RFID server 9 is a general personal computer and stores a price information file and the like. The price information file is obtained by extracting information necessary for price reduction of the product managed by the RFID server 9 from the product information file stored in the store controller 2. The RFID server 9 takes in the ID number of the product from the RFID tag 8 attached to each product via the RFID reader 10, and uses the price information file stored in the RFID server 9 as the ID number. It is determined whether or not the corresponding product is a discounted product, and the display quantity is totaled by product and price. The display quantity obtained by product and price obtained here is transmitted to the store controller 2 and the electronic shelf label system 4 via the LAN 7. A plurality of RFID servers 9 can be provided as necessary.

  The RFID tag 8 is processed into a pressure-sensitive adhesive label with an adhesive applied on the back surface, and a label printer 5 displays on the front surface a bar code indicating a product name and ID number (identification information), a manufacturing date, a expiration date, and a quality retention time A deadline display, a product price, and the like are printed, and an ID number is input to the IC memory by wireless communication and attached to the product. RFID tags 8 having a frequency of 13.5 KHz or less, 13.56 MHz, 860 M to 960 MHz, 2.45 GHz, and the like are known depending on the use frequency, and can be appropriately selected and used according to the application.

  The RFID reader 10 has an anti-collision function capable of reading and writing a plurality of RFID tags 8 at the same time, and a necessary number of RFID readers 10 are installed within a range that can communicate with the RFID tags 8 attached to a product.

  The electronic shelf label system 4 includes a shelf label server 11 that controls the whole, a plurality of electronic shelf labels 12 that are provided for each item of the product and displays the product name, price, etc., and the product name, price, etc. The price-reduced product display device 13 used for displaying the product or displaying the entire store together, and information such as the price-reduced price are transmitted from the shelf label server 11 to the electronic shelf label 12 and the price-reduced product display device 13. For example.

  The shelf label server 11 is a general-purpose personal computer, and stores shelf label files and the like. The shelf label file is obtained by extracting information necessary for displaying the product managed by the shelf label server 11 from the product information file stored in the store controller 2 in advance, and a part of the information in the shelf label file is the transceiver 14. And displayed on the electronic shelf label 12 and the price-reduced product display device 13.

  The electronic shelf label 12 is arranged at a position corresponding to a product of each item, and displays for each product. On the electronic shelf label 12, in addition to the product name and barcode, a price related to a normal price product is displayed at the beginning of the display of the product. The electronic shelf label 12 further displays a price related to the reduced price product.

  The price-reduced product display device 13 is a display device that collects and displays only the products targeted for price reduction so that the price-reduced product can be confirmed without looking at the electronic shelf label 12 of each product. In this embodiment, a display that collects display for each display shelf, and a display that is installed at the entrance of the store and displays mainly products that are targeted for sales promotion, thereby attracting the attention of new visitors. The apparatus is illustrated.

  The label printer 5 is provided to issue an RFID tag 8 in response to a command from the store controller 2 or the RFID server 9, and prints a product name or barcode on the surface of the RFID tag 8 by a thermal transfer method or the like. In addition to having a general function to perform, it has a function of writing a product ID number or the like to the RFID tag 8 by wireless communication.

  The POS system 6 is configured by a POS server, an electronic cash register, or the like (not shown), and sales information of products obtained by the POS system 6 can be transmitted to the store controller 2 in real time via the LAN 7.

FIG. 2 shows the internal structure of the RFID server 9 in this embodiment.
The RFID server includes a CPU (central processing unit) 21 for controlling each unit, a ROM 22 that is a memory device storing a program of the CPU 21, a RAM 23 that is a memory device for storing data, and a display unit 24 such as a liquid crystal display. , An operation unit 25 such as a keyboard, a price information file 26 and a price reduction classification file 27 necessary for the price reduction judgment of the product are provided.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the price information file 26 stored in the RFID server 9. As shown in the figure, the price information file 26 includes an ID number of a product registered in the RFID tag 8, a product number, a product name, a manufacturing (processing) date, a deadline display, a price, a unit price, an entry, and a price reduction category. , Shelf number, etc. are entered, and the current price, current unit price, and price reduction rate are blank. For the entry, a mass unit or a volume unit is used, but in this figure, the unit is displayed in mass units. The term display is the expiration date or quality display period specific to the product determined by the manufacturing (processing) date and time, and this date is displayed on the electronic shelf label. As described later, the price reduction category typifies the relationship between the elapsed time after manufacture and processing of products and the price reduction rate. The shelf number is composed of an individual number given to each display shelf and a shelf position counted from the upper stage of the display shelf. For example, the third stage from the top of the third display shelf is displayed as 3-3. Yes. The blank current price, current unit price, and price reduction rate are provided for input when the price reduction price, current unit price, and price reduction rate are acquired. This will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a part of the price reduction classification file 27 that serves as a reference for performing price reduction processing according to the elapsed time after manufacture and processing. In the price reduction classification file 27, the price reduction rate and the processing method with respect to the elapsed time after manufacture and processing are input, and those with the same elapsed time and price reduction rate are given the same price reduction classification regardless of the product. FIG. 4 illustrates the price reduction category A. According to this, the first price reduction is performed after 6 hours have passed since the manufacture or processing of the product, and the price reduction rate is changed sequentially after 12 hours and 24 hours. It is stipulated that after the elapse of time, it is removed from the display shelf and processed.

  FIG. 5 is a display example of the electronic shelf label 12 relating to packed beef products of beef having the same unit price and different entry. Products such as beef that have different contents depending on the pack also have different product prices for each pack, so the price for each pack (for each product) is not shown for each item of the product due to the limitation of the display space of the electronic shelf label 12 The unit price is displayed. In FIG. 5, a bar code representing the product name, manufacturer, product number, etc., a deadline display representing the expiration date or the quality retention date, a unit price, a price reduction rate, and the remaining number are displayed. "Special price" is displayed. That is, in the column below the regular products sold at the regular price, the unit price, the rate of reduction, and the remaining number of the products that have been reduced in three stages by the elapsed time after manufacture are displayed in the right column of the product expiration date display. Yes.

  FIG. 6 is another display example of the electronic shelf label 12 shown for milk whose entry is determined by the container size. In FIG. 6, a bar code representing the product name, manufacturer, product number, etc., a term display indicating the expiration date or the quality retention date, a price, a unit price, and the remaining number are displayed. Is displayed. That is, in the column below the regular products sold at the regular price, the unit price, the rate of reduction, and the remaining number of the products that have been reduced in three stages by the elapsed time after manufacture are displayed in the right column of the product expiration date display. Yes. It is also possible to display a price reduction rate by providing a display space next to the unit price.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of the display shelf 31. The electronic shelf label 12 is attached to the front surface of the shelf board 32 of the display shelf 31, and the upper space of the shelf board 32 is a display space 33 for displaying products. Usually, the products are arranged in the display space 33 behind the electronic shelf label 12 so that the correspondence between the displayed products and the product price is easy. A plurality of RFID readers 10 are arranged at an appropriate distance from each other on the ceiling (the lower surface of the upper shelf board) 34 of each display space 33, and wirelessly contactlessly from the RFID tag 8 attached to the product. The product ID number is read. Although the RFID tag 8 can be attached to the product on the back side of the product, it is generally preferable to attach the RFID tag 8 to a visible position because it is easy to visually confirm and there are few reading errors of the RFID reader 10.

  A price-reduced product display device 13 is installed at the top of the display shelf 31, and displays the product name, normal price or unit price, price-reduced price or unit price, number, etc. of the target product displayed on the entire display shelf 31. Yes. In order to make it easy to understand the display position of the price-reduced product, such display is performed, for example, in the upper column of the price-reduced product display device 13 in order from the product on the upper shelf board 32, or the position is displayed by characters. The device is done.

  FIG. 8 is a schematic plan view of the store 41 and shows the positions of the entrance 42, the plurality of display shelves 31, the plurality of discounted product display devices 13, the plurality of electronic cash registers 43, the exit 44, and the like. The price-reduced product display device 13 includes a relatively small device installed at the top of the display shelf described in FIG. 8 and a large device installed near the entrance to display bargain information on the entire store.

  Next, in the product information management system 1 having such a configuration, FIG. 9 shows a processing method for confirming the price-reduced product from the product ID number stored in the RFID tag 8 attached to the product and performing the price-reduction display. It explains using.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the flow of price reduction processing for products.
First, in step S1, the ID number (identification information) of the product is read by the RFID reader 10 from the RFID tag 8 attached to each product. Based on the ID number read here, in step S2, the product name, date / time of manufacture, and price reduction classification are obtained from the price information file 26 stored in the RFID server 9, and in step S3, the product is manufactured (after processing). ) Elapsed time is calculated from the manufacturing date and time (processing date and time) and the current date and time. Further, in step S4, it is determined from the elapsed time after manufacture (after processing) and the price reduction classification file 27 whether or not the product corresponds to the price reduction product. If it is determined that the product is a price-reduced product, in step S5, the price reduction rate and unit price are calculated by reading the price reduction rate corresponding to the elapsed time after manufacture (after processing) from the price reduction classification file 27, and in step S6. Proceed to

  On the other hand, when it is determined that the product is not a price-reduced product, it is determined that the normal price (initial price) is maintained, and step S5 is skipped and the process proceeds to step S6.

  After determining the current price and unit price of the product in this way, in step S6, the current price, current unit price, and price reduction rate of the price information file 26 are written. The same processing is performed for the other products read in step S1, and in step S7, when it is determined that all the products have been read, the process proceeds to step S8, and the price information file 26 is searched using the product number and the current unit price as keys. Then, the number of products with the same product number and the same unit price is totaled. Further, in step S9, the current price, unit price, and quantity obtained in this way are sent to the shelf label server 11, the shelf label file of the shelf label server 11 is rewritten, and the price reduction price, unit price reduction, The price reduction rate and quantity are transmitted, and the display illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6 is performed on the electronic shelf label 12 with a predetermined shelf number.

  In addition, the shelf label server 11 aggregates the quantity of price-reduced products for each display shelf 31 and displays the price-reduced product price reduction price, unit price, price reduction rate, number, etc., of the price-reduced products arranged on each display shelf 31 via the transceiver 14. The information is transmitted to the device 13 and these are displayed. In addition, for items that are particularly affordable for the store 41 as a whole or for products that you want to sell as soon as possible, it is possible to display on the large price-reduced product display device 13 installed near the entrance 42 of the store 41 in the same manner. it can.

  Further, when all the products recorded in the price information file 26 disappear from the display shelf 31, “0” is displayed in the quantity display portion of the electronic shelf label 12, thereby alerting the store clerk. At the same time, by sending information indicating that the remaining quantity of the product is zero to the store controller 2, it is possible to quickly cope with the replenishment of the product.

  On the other hand, in the product information file stored in the store controller 2, the sales information from the POS system 6 is reflected in real time, and the content of the product information file is always rewritten to a new one. When the product information file is rewritten, predetermined information is transmitted to the RFID server 9 and the shelf label server 11 via the LAN 7 at an arbitrary frequency, and the price information file 26 and the shelf label file are updated. .

As described above, according to the present invention, by acquiring identification information from a wireless tag (RFID tag) attached to a product displayed on the sales floor, the current displayed product can be confirmed in real time. It is possible to provide a merchandise information management system in which a price reduction target product is selected from the sold products and the price reduction price, display quantity, and the like are displayed on an electronic display device.
In addition, according to the present invention, since the display quantity of the price-reduction target products displayed on the sales floor is aggregated, the products are lost due to shoplifting, etc. Even if it does not return to, it can be found early.

  Needless to say, the present invention is not limited to the present embodiment, and can be appropriately changed within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention.

It is a block diagram of merchandise information management system 1 concerning an embodiment of the invention. 2 is a configuration diagram showing an internal structure of an RFID server 9. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the price information file 26 stored in the RFID server 9. FIG. FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram showing a part of a price cut classification file 27. It is a figure showing the one display state of the electronic shelf label. It is a figure showing the other display state of the electronic shelf label. It is a figure showing an example of the display shelf 31 arrange | positioned in the shop 41. FIG. FIG. 8 is a schematic plan view of the store 41. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the price reduction process of goods.

Explanation of symbols

1 Product Information Management System 2 Store Controller 3 RFID System 4 Electronic Shelf Label System 5 Label Printer 6 POS System 7 LAN
8 RFID tag 9 RFID server 10 RFID reader 11 Shelf label server 12 Electronic shelf label 13 Price reduction product display device 14 Transceiver 21 CPU
22 ROM
23 RAM
24 display unit 25 operation unit 26 price information file 27 price reduction file 31 display shelf 32 shelf board 33 display space 34 ceiling 41 store 42 entrance 43 electronic cash register 44 exit

Claims (4)

An electronic display device that is arranged at the sales floor and displays rewritable price information such as product price and unit price,
A wireless tag that stores individually assigned identification information and is attached to a product,
Reading means for reading the identification information stored in the wireless tag;
Storage means for storing product information including product name, product price, unit price, etc. corresponding to the identification information;
An information processing unit that specifies the product name based on the identification information and the product information read by the reading unit, and obtains the price information of the price-reduced product that is price-reduced according to an elapsed time after manufacture or processing of the product; With
The product information management system, wherein the price information of the reduced product obtained by the information processing means is displayed on the electronic display device.   The information processing means has a function of summing up the quantity for each item of the product displayed on the sales floor by unit price, and the electronic display displays the quantity for each item of the product obtained by the information processing means together with the price information. The merchandise information management system according to claim 1, wherein the merchandise information management system is displayed on a device.   The product information management system according to claim 1, wherein the electronic display device is arranged for each item of products displayed on a sales floor, and displays the product for each item. 3. The product information management system according to claim 1, wherein the electronic display device collectively displays a plurality of price-reduced products displayed on a sales floor.

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