JP2007058759A - Customer moving route information collection device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a customer moving route information collection device capable of automatically performing maintenance in a simple structure. <P>SOLUTION: The customer moving route information collection device comprises a traveling condition detection means, which is mounted on a shopping cart 3 used by a user, for detecting traveling conditions; an initial information setting means 17, which is arranged on a cart depository 4 of the shopping carts, for setting an initial position and direction at the starting of movement of the shopping cart; a moving route information forming means for forming moving route information on the basis of the detected traveling conditions detected by the traveling condition detecting means; and automatic maintenance means 16 and 18, which are arranged on the cart depot, for performing maintenance of the moving route information forming means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a customer movement route information collection device that collects customer movement route information.

As a conventional customer movement route information collection device, for example, a shopping cart in which a navigation system having a distance sensor, a direction sensor, and a height sensor is installed is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
According to this shopping cart, by having the navigation system, the shopper can easily and reliably reach the target sales floor in a short time and purchase the target product. It is impossible to grasp the flow line representing the movement path when

Therefore, when readers are installed at multiple locations where the presence of a pedestrian is to be detected, the pedestrian is allowed to wear a lightweight, small RF / ID tag, and the pedestrian approaches the reader within a preset distance, The reader receives the unique radio wave emitted by the RF / ID tag, collates the unique ID of the received radio wave, individually identifies and detects the walking car attached to the tag, and integrates the detection information of the reader Thus, there is known a pedestrian flow line observation system using ubiquitous technology that observes when and where a pedestrian is moving (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1).
JP-A-6-107183 (first page, FIG. 1) Takashi Obata, 3 others, “A new service using ubiquitous technology: advanced-possibility of in-store marketing”, Proceedings of the 3rd Information Science and Technology Forum “Lecture 8” September 7, 2004 Internet <URL : Http: // www. ieice. org / jpn / event / program / FIT2004 / html / event / pdf / 19koiso. pdf>

However, in the conventional example described in Patent Document 1, since the user inputs the initialization of the position information, the burden on the user is heavy, and maintenance such as data management, memory management, and charging is performed. In doing so, a separate maintenance device is required, and there is an unsolved problem that the system cost increases.
Further, in the conventional example described in Non-Patent Document 1, the RFID system must be attached to the user, which places a heavy burden on the user, and maintenance such as data management, memory management, charging, etc., as in Patent Document 1. However, there is an unsolved problem that a separate maintenance device is required to increase the system cost.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made paying attention to the above-mentioned unsolved problems of the conventional example, and provides a customer travel route information collecting apparatus capable of automatically setting and maintaining initial information at a cart place. The purpose is that.

  A first aspect of the present invention is a customer movement route information collection device for collecting customer movement route information, a traveling state detection means for detecting a traveling state attached to a shopping cart used by a customer, and a cart location of the shopping cart. An initial information setting means for setting an initial position and direction at the start of movement of the shopping cart, and a travel path information forming means for forming travel path information based on the travel state detected by the travel state detection means. And an automatic maintenance means that is disposed in the cart storage area and performs maintenance of the movement path information forming means.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the movement route information can be formed by the movement route information forming means based on the detection result of the traveling state detection means provided in the shopping cart. Since it is performed by the automatic maintenance means provided, it is possible to automatically manage the travel route information forming means of the shopping cart, and further automatically when the shopping cart is pulled out from the cart place by the initial information setting means. Thus, the effect of setting and maintaining the initial position and direction can be obtained without bothering the customer.

  The second invention is a customer movement route information collecting device for collecting customer movement route information, a traveling state detection means for detecting a traveling state attached to a shopping cart used by the customer, and the shopping cart. An initial information setting unit that is arranged in the cart storage area and sets an initial position and a direction when the shopping cart starts to move, and a movement route information formation that forms movement route information based on the traveling state detected by the traveling state detecting unit Means, automatic maintenance means arranged in the cart place for maintenance of the movement path information forming means, and movement path information acquisition means for acquiring the movement path information formed by the movement path information formation means. It is characterized by.

In the second invention, the movement route information formed by the movement route information forming means in the first invention described above is acquired by the movement route information acquisition means arranged at the fee settlement position. In addition to the effects of the invention, there is an effect that the travel route information can be easily acquired from the shopping cart.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, the movement path information forming means accumulates the movement path information stored in the movement path formation means when receiving the initial information from the initial information setting means. It is characterized by being comprised so that it may erase | eliminate.

In the third aspect of the invention, when the initial information is received from the initial information setting unit, the travel route information stored in the travel route forming unit is erased, so that the previous customer's travel route information can be surely erased. Even if the customer stops shopping halfway, the travel route information is surely erased without remaining.
Furthermore, in the fourth aspect of the invention, in the second aspect of the invention, since the movement route forming unit deletes the movement route information stored when the movement route information acquisition unit acquires the movement route information, the movement route information is separately provided. There is no need to provide means for erasing.

Still further, in a fifth aspect based on the first or second aspect, when the movement path formation means receives initial information from the initial information setting means, the movement path information of the movement path information formation means It is characterized by having a movement route information erasure confirmation means for confirming that the movement route information has been erased and erasing the movement route information when the movement route information is not erased.
In the fifth aspect of the invention, since it is possible to confirm whether or not the route information is erased after the route information is erased, the route information can be erased more reliably.

In addition, in a sixth aspect based on any one of the first to fifth aspects, the initial information setting means transmits the orientation information and position information of the shopping cart arranged in the cart place as initial information. It is characterized by comprising initial information transmitting means.
In the sixth aspect of the invention, the initial information setting means is constituted by the initial information transmitting means disposed in the shopping cart storage area, and the initial information transmitting means transmits the orientation information and position information of the shopping cart as initial information. In the shopping cart place, since the shopping cart is arranged with its orientation fixed, the initial position can be set accurately.

Further, according to a seventh invention, in any one of the first to sixth inventions, the automatic maintenance means is connected in tandem to a charging device to charge the battery when the shopping cart is returned to the cart place. It is characterized by being configured.
According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, the battery can be automatically charged by the charging device simply by returning the shopping cart to the cart place.

Furthermore, according to an eighth aspect based on any one of the first to seventh aspects, the automatic maintenance means is executed by the movement route information forming means when the shopping cart is returned to the cart place. It is configured to update the program.
In the eighth aspect of the invention, it is possible to obtain an effect that the program can be automatically updated when the program executed by the movement route information forming means is changed by simply returning the shopping cart to the cart place.

Still further, the ninth invention is characterized in that, in any one of the second to eighth inventions, the travel route information acquisition means is added to a POS system disposed at a fee settlement position. .
In the ninth aspect of the invention, since the travel route information acquisition means is added to the POS system disposed at the fee settlement position, it is added to each POS system by a centralized management apparatus to which a plurality of POS systems are connected. It is possible to collect the travel route information acquired by the travel route information acquisition means and the purchased product information of the customer, and the effect that the purchase behavior of the customer can be accurately grasped can be obtained.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and a plurality of, for example, ten shopping units are provided in the vicinity of an entrance 2 in a store 1 that uses a shopping cart such as a supermarket or a department store. Cart yards 4A and 4B for arranging the carts 3 in a row in a predetermined direction are arranged.

  Each of the cart places 4A and 4B has a guide bar 5 for guiding the shopping cart 3 in a predetermined direction as shown in FIG. The guide bar 5 includes side bar portions 5a and 5b arranged in parallel with an interval substantially equal to the width of the shopping cart 3, an end bar portion 5c connecting one end of the side bar portions 5a and 5b, and a floor For example, it is composed of support columns 5d that are planted on the surface and support the side bar portions 5a and 5b. Then, with the plurality of shopping carts 3 arranged in tandem, the front bar of the shopping cart 3 is regulated by the end bar portion 5c, and the left and right side portions of the shopping cart 3 are guided by the side bar portions 5a and 5b. Are arranged in a column in a certain direction.

  And the control unit 6 which forms the movement path information which measures the movement path information in the shopping cart 3 is arrange | positioned, and the wheel speed pulse according to the rotational speed and this wheel are set to the wheel 3a of the shopping cart 3. An incremental rotary encoder 7 capable of detecting a rotation direction by generating a rotation direction detection pulse having a phase difference of 90 ° with respect to the speed pulse is provided.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the control unit 6 includes a piezoelectric gyro 8 as an angular velocity detecting means for detecting the yaw rate of the shopping cart 3, and outputs a sensor unit 9 that outputs the angular velocity ω of the shopping cart 3. The angular velocity ω of the shopping cart 3 output from the unit 9 is stored, and traveling information D and stop time before and after the shopping cart 3 based on the wheel speed pulse and the rotation direction detection pulse input from the rotary encoder 7. Tst is calculated and stored, and further, an arithmetic processing unit 10 composed of, for example, a CPU that performs wireless communication control with an external device, and a program necessary for arithmetic processing performed by the arithmetic processing unit 10 are stored. Angular velocity ω, travel information D, stop time Tst, initial position information, current position information, A communication control unit 12 that performs wireless communication between a memory 11 that stores travel route information including a start time, a current position information acquisition time, and a gyro reset time, and an external information collection device that is controlled by the arithmetic processing device 10; , A wireless communication antenna 13 connected to the communication control unit 12, an RFID reception unit 14 that receives position information for correcting a movement path via the wireless communication antenna 13, a sensor unit 9, an arithmetic processing unit 10, and communication control And a battery 15 for supplying electric power to the RFID receiver 14.

  Further, the cart yard 4A, 4B includes a charging device 16 for charging the battery 15 of the control unit 6 mounted on the shopping cart 3, and when the shopping cart 3 is returned to the cart yard 4A or 4B, When the battery voltage Vb of the battery 15 is detected by the charging device 16 and the battery voltage Vb is equal to or lower than a predetermined voltage, the battery 15 is charged in a contact state or a non-contact state. The charging device 16 includes an output connector 16b that engages with an input connector 16a that is connected to a battery 15 that is disposed on the front end side of the shopping cart 3 in the end bar portion 5c of the guide bar 5. An output connector 16c connected to the battery 15 is provided at a position where the input connector 16a of another shopping cart 3 is engaged when arranged in a column, and the shopping cart 3 is returned to the cart place 4A or 4B, and the input connector 16a By engaging the output connector 16b or 16c, the batteries 15 of each shopping cart 3 are connected in cascade and charged.

  Further, in the cart locations 4A and 4B, an initial information transmission device for transmitting the absolute position information of the cart locations 4A and 4B and the orientation information indicating the column direction of the shopping cart 3 to the control unit 6 of the corresponding shopping cart 3 as initial information. 17 and a program update device 18 that updates the change program by wireless communication when there is a change in the program executed by the arithmetic processing device 10 of the control unit 6 of the shopping cart 3. These charging device 16 and program updating device 18 correspond to automatic maintenance means.

  On the other hand, an RFID tag 22 is installed as a position information transmitting means for transmitting the current position information to the column 21 adjacent to the moving path disposed in the store 1, and within a communication range of several meters from the RFID tag 22. The current position information is transmitted to the control unit 6 disposed in the shopping cart 3 that is located.

  In addition, a POS (Point Of Sales) system 32 is provided at a checkout location 31 in the store 1 to checkout purchased products. As shown in FIG. 4, the POS system 32 includes a travel route data communication unit 33 as travel route information acquisition means for acquiring travel route information from the control unit 6 of each shopping cart 3, and the travel route data communication unit 33. A product information input unit 35 including a bar code reader or a numeric keypad for inputting product information, and a display unit 36 such as a liquid crystal display, an EL panel, or a plasma display for displaying settlement information. CPU for controlling the movement path data communication unit 33 to acquire the movement path information and performing a data acquisition process for performing settlement based on the purchased product information and the settlement amount information input from the product information input unit 35, for example, CPU And a program used for the arithmetic processing of the arithmetic processing unit 37. And communicates with a memory 38 that temporarily stores settlement information, settlement end time, and travel route information, and a plurality of personal computers 40 that perform external data analysis via a local area network (LAN) 39, for example. And an external communication control unit 41.

Each personal computer 40 is connected to a plurality of databases 43 via, for example, the local rear network 42, and stores the travel route information, the settlement information, and the settlement end time acquired from the POS system 32 in the database 43. A data analysis process for analyzing the movement route information, the settlement information, and the settlement end time is performed.
And in the arithmetic processing unit 10 of the control unit 6 mounted in the shopping cart 3, the movement route information collection process shown in FIG. 5 is executed.

  This movement route information collection processing is started when the supply of external power to the battery 15 of the control unit 6 is cut off by removing the shopping cart 3 from the cart yard 4A or 4B. The travel route information including the angular velocity ω, travel information D, stop time Tst, initial position information, current position information, travel start time, current position acquisition time, reset time, and total travel distance L stored in the memory 11 is deleted. If the travel route information is not erased, the process proceeds to step S2 and the travel route information is erased and then the process proceeds to step S3. If the travel route information is erased, the process directly proceeds to step S3. Migrate to

In step S3, the movement start time is stored in the movement path information storage area of the memory 11, the counter for counting the wheel speed pulses output from the rotary encoder 7 is reset, and the piezoelectric gyro 8 is reset.
Next, the process proceeds to step S4, where the absolute position coordinates X ₀ , Y _{0 of the} shopping cart 3 and the shopping cart at the cart locations 4A, 4B transmitted from the initial information transmitting device 17 disposed at the cart locations 4A, 4B. obtains the composed initial position information on the current direction information theta ₀ of 3, and stores the acquired initial position information to the route information storage area of the memory 11.

  Next, the process proceeds to step S5 to start the movement route information forming process shown in FIG. 6, and then the process proceeds to step S6 to determine whether or not the RFID tag 22 disposed on the support column 21 exists, If the RFID tag 22 does not exist, the process proceeds to step S13 described later. If the RFID tag 22 exists, the process proceeds to step S7, and whether or not the current position acquisition flag FP is set to “1”. When the current position acquisition flag FP is set to “1”, it is determined that the state already within the communication range of the RFID tag 22 is continued, and the process jumps to step S15 described later. When the current position acquisition flag FP is reset to “0”, it is determined that the communication range of the RFID tag 22 has been reached for the first time, and the process proceeds to step S8.

In this step S8, it is determined whether or not the current position information is received from the RFID tag 22. If the current position information is not received, the process waits until the current position information is received. If the current position information is received, the process proceeds to step S9. Then, after storing the current position information and the current position information acquisition time in the movement path information storage area of the memory 11, the process proceeds to step S10.
In this step S10, the piezoelectric gyro 8 is reset to remove the drift, and then the process proceeds to step S11, the gyro reset time is stored in the movement path information storage area of the memory 11, and then the process proceeds to step S12. Then, after the current position acquisition flag FP is set to “1”, the process proceeds to step S15.

  On the other hand, if the determination result of step S6 is that the RFID tag 22 is not present, it is determined whether or not the current position acquisition flag FP is set to “1”, and the current position acquisition flag FP is reset to “0”. If the current position acquisition flag FP is set to “1”, it is determined that the state where the RFID tag 22 does not exist is continued and the current position acquisition flag FP is set to “1”. It is determined that the vehicle has left the range, the process proceeds to step S14, the position acquisition flag FP is reset to “0”, and then the process proceeds to step S15.

  In step S15, it is determined whether or not a travel route information acquisition request has been received from the travel route data communication unit 33 of the POS system 32. If a travel route information acquisition request has not been received, the process returns to step S6, where When the information acquisition request is received, the process proceeds to step S16, and shopping from when the wheel speed pulse is obtained to the count N of the counter for counting the wheel speed pulse until the next wheel speed pulse is obtained. The total travel distance L is calculated by multiplying the travel distance ΔL of the cart 3, and then the process proceeds to step S17 to store the angular velocity ω, travel information D, stop time Tst, initial position information, current position stored in the memory 11 The travel route information composed of information, travel start time, current position acquisition time, gyro reset time, and total travel distance L is supplied to the communication control unit 12. Then, the process proceeds to step S18, and the travel route information collection process is performed after erasing the travel route information, current position information, gyro reset time, and total travel distance L stored in the memory 11. Exit.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6, when the travel route information forming process is started in step S5, first, in step S21, it is determined whether or not a wheel speed pulse has been input. When it is not inputted, it waits until it is inputted, and when a wheel speed pulse is inputted, the process proceeds to step S22, the current time Tn is read and then the process proceeds to step S23, and the wheel speed pulse is counted. After incrementing the count value N of the software counter, the process proceeds to step S24.

  In this step S24, it is determined whether the shopping cart 3 is moving forward or backward based on the combination of the wheel speed pulse and the direction detecting pulse and the previous combination. When the shopping cart 3 is moving forward, the process proceeds to step S25. Then, the travel information D is set to “1” representing forward travel, and then the process proceeds to step S27. When the travel is backward, the process proceeds to step S26 and the travel information D is set to “0” representing backward travel. The process proceeds to S27.

  In step S27, the angular velocity ω detected by the piezoelectric gyro 8 is read, and then the process proceeds to step S28, where the previous current time Tn-1 is subtracted from the current time Tn to obtain an inter-pulse time ΔT (= Tn-T (n-1)) is then calculated, and then the process proceeds to step S29 to determine whether or not the time between pulses ΔT is equal to or longer than the minimum stop time Tmin that can be determined that the preset shopping cart 3 is stopped. When ΔT ≧ Tmin, it is determined that the engine is in the stop state, and the process proceeds to step S30. After setting the inter-pulse time ΔT as the stop time Tst, the process proceeds to step S32, and when ΔT <Tmin, If it is determined that there is not, the process proceeds to step S31, the stop time Tst is set to “0”, and then the process proceeds to step S32.

In step S32, the angular velocity ω, the travel information D, and the stop time Tst are stored in the travel route information storage area formed in the memory 11, and then the process returns to step S21.
5 and 6, the process of step S4 and the initial information transmitting device 17 correspond to the initial information setting means, the processes of steps S7 to S14 correspond to the position information receiving means, and steps S4, S9, S11. , S17 and S32 and the memory 11 constitute path information storage means.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 7, in the data acquisition process executed by the arithmetic processing unit 37 of the POS system 32, first, in step S41, communication with the communication control unit 12 of the control unit 6 of the shopping cart 3 is possible. In a state where communication with the communication control unit 12 is not possible, the system waits until communication is possible. When communication is possible, the process proceeds to step S42.

  In this step S42, a movement route information acquisition request for requesting transmission of movement route information is transmitted to the communication control unit 12, and then the process proceeds to step S43 to determine whether or not the movement route information has been received from the communication control unit 12. If the travel route information is not received, the process waits until the travel route information is received. When the travel route information is received, the process proceeds to step S44, where the travel route information is temporarily stored in the memory 38 and then step S45. Migrate to

In this step S45, a settlement process is performed based on the purchased product information input from the product information input unit 35, and then the process proceeds to step S46, where the movement path information, the settlement information, and the settlement end time thereof are indicated by the external communication control unit The data is output to 41 and transmitted to the personal computer 40, and then the process returns to step S41.
In the process of FIG. 7, the processes of steps S41 to S45 correspond to the movement route information acquisition unit.

  Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 8, the data analysis process executed by the personal computer 40 is started when the travel route information, the settlement information, and the settlement end time are received from the external communication control unit 41 of the POS system 32. In step S51, it is determined whether or not there is a reception history of the current position coordinates transmitted from the RFID tag 22 in the movement route information. If there is no reception history of the current position coordinates, the process directly goes to step S54. If there is a reception history of the current position coordinates, the process proceeds to step S52.

In this step S52, referring to the time information, the current position acquisition time and the gyro reset time are read, the drift component is estimated from the gyro reset interval and the gyro specification, and the wheel speed pulse is input based on the drift amount. Each stored angular velocity ω is corrected every time.
Next, the process proceeds to step S53, where it is determined whether or not the correction process based on all current position information has been completed. When the correction process has not been completed, the process returns to step S52, and when the correction process has been completed, the process proceeds to step S54. Migrate to

In the step S54, and calculates the rotation angle θn of the shopping cart 3 by integrating the angular velocity ω of the corrected, then the process proceeds to step S55, successively the rotation angle θn to the azimuth information theta ₀ in the initial position information acquisition Is added, the cumulative rotation angle θa of the shopping cart 3 is calculated, and then the process proceeds to step S56 where the traveling information D is “1” indicating whether the shopping cart 3 is in the forward state or the backward state. If it is in the forward state, the process proceeds to step S57, and the travel distance ΔL of the shopping cart 3 from when the wheel speed pulse is obtained until the next wheel speed pulse is obtained is corrected. After setting as a value + ΔL, the process proceeds to step S59. When the vehicle is in the reverse state, the process proceeds to step S58, and the travel distance ΔL is set as a negative value -ΔL. To migrate to Luo step S59.

In step S59, the calculation of the following formulas (1) and (2) is performed based on the travel distance ΔL and the cumulative rotation angle θa set in step S57 or S58, so that the wheel speed pulse is input. Position coordinates X ′, Y ′ are calculated.
X ′ = X + ΔL cos θa (1)
Y ′ = Y + ΔL sin θa (2)

  Next, the process proceeds to step S60, where the calculated position coordinates X ′, Y ′ and the accumulated rotation angle θa are stored as movement path analysis information. Then, the process proceeds to step S61, where position coordinates are calculated for all angular velocities ω. It is determined whether or not the calculation of the estimated position has been completed. When the calculation of the current estimated position has not been completed, the process proceeds to step S62, the next angular velocities ω are read, and the process returns to step S54. When the calculation is completed, the process proceeds to step S63.

In this step S63, the moving route represented by the calculated position coordinates is matched with the actual sales floor layout, and then the process proceeds to step S64, where the marketing data is based on the moving route analysis information, time information, and settlement information. After the marketing data generation process for generating is performed, the process ends.
In the marketing data generation process, the position coordinates X ′ and Y ′ whose stop time Tst is set to other than “0” and the cumulative rotation angle θa are extracted, and the position coordinates X ′ and Y ′ are matched with the sales floor layout. By taking this, it is possible to detect in which area the shopping cart 3 is facing in which direction.

In addition, the staying time in the store can be calculated from the movement start time from the settlement end time, and by providing the RFID tag 22 for each sales floor, the area is based on the route information and the communication start time of the RFID tag 22. A separate stay time can be calculated.
Furthermore, by combining the stop time Tst and the purchased product, the time required for purchasing the product can be calculated.

In the processing of FIG. 8, the processing of steps S51 to S53 corresponds to the angular velocity correction means, the processing of steps S54 to S59 corresponds to the movement position calculation means, and the processing of step S60 corresponds to the movement route information forming means. Yes.
Furthermore, the program update device 18 arranged in the cart yard 4A and 4B executes the program update process shown in FIG. 9 outside business hours such as late at night. In this program update process, first, in step S71, it is determined whether or not there is an update program to be updated. If there is no update program, the process is terminated, and if there is an update program, The process proceeds to step S72, where it is determined whether or not there is a communicable shopping cart 3, and if there is no communicable shopping cart 3, the process is terminated and there is a communicable shopping cart 3. In that case, the process proceeds to step S73.

  In this step S73, ID information such as a MAC address of the corresponding shopping cart 3 is acquired, and then the process proceeds to step S74, the management table is referred to based on the acquired ID information, and the corresponding shopping cart 3 It is determined whether or not the update of the current update program has been completed. If the update has not been completed, the process proceeds to step S75, where the update program is transmitted to the control unit 6 of the corresponding shopping cart 3 and updated. Then, the process proceeds to step S76, the completion of the update is recorded in the ID information position corresponding to the management table, and then the process proceeds to step S77 to determine whether there is another shopping cart 3 with ID information that can be communicated. If it exists, the step S73 is performed. Return, if it does not exist, the processing is terminated.

On the other hand, when the determination result in step S74 indicates that the update program has been updated, the process directly proceeds to step S77.
Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described.
Now, it is assumed that a plurality of shopping carts 3 are arranged in a row in the cart yards 4A and 4B. At this time, various acquisitions such as the angular velocity ω, the movement distance ΔL, the movement start time, the current position acquisition time, etc. stored in the memory 11 of the control unit 6 provided in each shopping cart 3 arranged in the cart yard 4A and 4B. All the time information is erased, and the battery 15 is charged by the charging device 16.

In this state, when the customer enters the store from the entrance 2 and pulls out the shopping cart 3 from the cart yard 4A, for example, when the charging state of the battery 15 by the charging device 16 is canceled, the controller 6 changes the state shown in FIG. The travel route information collection process shown is executed.
For this reason, first, the travel route information including the angular velocity ω, travel information D, stop time Tst, current position information, travel start time, current position acquisition time, reset time, and total travel distance L stored in the memory 11 is erased. It is determined whether or not the travel route information is erased (step S1). If the travel route information is not erased, the travel route information is erased (step S2). For this reason, the previous shopping cart 3 was pulled out from the cart yard 4A and started to move. However, when shopping is stopped halfway, the previous movement route information remains stored in the memory 11, but the movement route information is acquired. Since the movement route information is erased when the processing is started, it is possible to reliably prevent the previous movement route information from being accumulated.

Then, the movement start time of the shopping cart 3 is stored in the movement path information storage area of the memory 11 and the counter for counting the wheel speed pulses is reset to set the count value N to “0”. The gyro 8 is reset (step S3).
Next, initial information composed of absolute position coordinates X ₀ , Y ₀ and absolute azimuth information θ ₀ of the shopping cart 3 is acquired from the initial information transmitting device 17 disposed on the exit side of the cart place 4A, and this is stored in the memory. 11 in the movement route information storage area (step S4).

Next, the movement route information forming process shown in FIG. 6 is activated (step S5).
In this state, when the shopping cart 3 is retracted along the side bar portions 5a and 5b and is completely pulled out from the cart storage 4A toward the desired sales floor, the wheels 3a are reversed by first retracting the shopping cart 3. Then, a wheel speed pulse and a direction detection pulse are output from the rotary encoder 7 and input to the control unit 6.

  Therefore, when a wheel speed pulse is input in the movement route information forming process of FIG. 6, the current time Tn is read (step S22), and then the count value N of the software counter is incremented (step S23). Based on the combination of the wheel speed pulse and the direction detection pulse and the previous combination, it is detected that the vehicle is moving backward, so that the traveling information D is set to “0” representing the backward movement (step S26). The angular velocity ω is read from the equation gyro 8 (step S27), and the previous time Tn-1 is subtracted from the current time Tn to calculate an inter-pulse time ΔT (= Tn-Tn-1) (step S28).

In this case, since the shopping cart 3 continues to retreat, the stop time Tst is set to “0” when the inter-pulse time ΔT becomes less than the minimum stop time Tmin (step S31). Then, the angular velocity ω, the travel information D, and the stop time Tst are stored in the movement route information storage area formed in the memory 11, and the process returns to step S21.
With this travel route information forming process, every time the shopping cart 3 moves and a wheel speed pulse is input from the encoder 7, the angular velocity ω, the travel information D, and the stop time Tst are sequentially stored in the travel route information storage area.

Thereafter, when the shopping cart 3 reaches the communicable area with the RFID tag 22 disposed on the support column 21, the process moves from step S6 to step S7 in the movement route information collection process of FIG. Is reset to “0”, the process proceeds to step S 8, and the current position coordinates X _P and Y _P and the direction information θ _P are acquired from the RFID tag 22. At this time, the RFID tag 22 has the current position coordinates X _P1 , Y _{P1 to} X _P4 , Y _P4 and the direction information θ in each path when the communication range reaches the communication range for each path near the support column 21. and transmits to the control unit 6 of the cart 3 and can communicate the current position information composed of the _P1 through? _P4. For this reason, in the control unit 6, when the communication with the RFID tag 22 is enabled in the movement route information collection process of FIG. 5, the current position acquisition flag FP is reset to “0”, so the process proceeds to step S8. When the current position information is acquired, the current position information and the acquisition time are stored in the current position information storage area (step S9).

Next, the piezoelectric gyro 8 is reset (step S10), the gyro reset time is stored in the reset time storage area, and the current position acquisition flag FP is set to “1”. At this time, since the shopping cart 3 has not been moved to the checkout station and the movement route information acquisition request has not been received, the process returns to step S6 in the process of FIG.
At this time, the shopping cart 3 is moving within the communication range of the RFID tag 22, but since the current position acquisition flag FP is set to “1”, the current position coordinates are not acquired again. When the travel route information forming process 6 is executed, the travel route information of the shopping cart 3 is sequentially stored in the travel route storage area.

In this way, as the shopping cart 3 moves, the angular velocity ω, the travel information D and the stop time Tst, the current position information, the gyro reset time, and the like are collected and sequentially stored in the travel route information storage area. .
Thereafter, when the shopping is finished and the shopping cart 3 is moved to the checkout office, communication with the movement path data communication unit 33 provided in the POS system 32 becomes possible. When the information acquisition request is received, the process proceeds from step S15 to step S16 in the travel route information collection process of FIG. 5 to calculate the total travel distance L by multiplying the count value N of the software counter by the travel distance ΔL, and then the travel The travel route information including the angular velocity ω, travel information D, stop time Tst, current position information, gyro reset time, and total travel distance L stored in the route storage area is transmitted to the travel route data communication unit 33. When completed, the stored data in the movement path storage area and time storage area are erased, and the count value of the software counter After clearing N to “0”, the travel route information acquisition process is terminated.

In the POS system 32, the travel route data communication unit 33 acquires travel route information from the shopping cart 3, and performs predetermined settlement processing based on the purchased product information input from the product information input unit 35 to obtain the settlement information. The settlement information, the settlement end time, and the travel route information are transmitted to the personal computer 40.
When the personal computer 40 receives the settlement information, the settlement end time, and the movement route information from the POS system 32, the personal computer 40 executes a data analysis process. In this data analysis process, it is determined whether or not the current position information transmitted from the RFID tag 22 is received. When the current position information is received, the gyro is based on the current position information acquisition time and the gyro reset time. A reset interval is calculated, a drift component is estimated from the gyro reset interval and the gyro specification, and each stored angular velocity ω is corrected each time a wheel speed pulse is input based on the drift amount (step S52).

For each of the angular velocity ω of correction ends, by integrating it calculates the rotation angle θn of the cart 3 (step S54), by adding the sequential rotation angle θn to the azimuth information theta ₀ of the initial information, shopping The cumulative rotation angle θa of the cart 3 is calculated individually (step S55), and by determining whether the vehicle travels forward or backward based on the travel information D, the sign of the travel distance ΔL is set, and then the above formulas (1) and (2 ) To calculate the position coordinates X ′ and Y ′ when the wheel speed pulse is input (step S59), and the calculated position coordinates X ′ and Y ′, the cumulative rotation angle θa and the stop time Tst. Is stored in the database 42 as travel route analysis information.

Then, by matching the position coordinates of the travel route analysis information stored in the database 42 with the sales floor layout, the sales floor layout and the travel route analysis information are matched, and then the travel route analysis information, time information, and settlement information After performing the marketing data generation process for generating the marketing data based on the process, the process ends.
In the marketing data generation process, the position coordinates X ′ and Y ′ whose stop time Tst is set to other than “0” and the cumulative rotation angle θa are extracted, and the position coordinates X ′ and Y ′ are matched with the sales floor layout. By taking this, it is possible to detect in which area the shopping cart 3 is facing in which direction.

In addition, the staying time in the store can be calculated from the movement start time and the time at the end of payment, and by providing the RFID tag 22 for each sales floor, it is based on the path information and the communication start time between the RFID tag 22. It is possible to calculate the stay time by area.
Furthermore, by combining the stop time Tst and the purchased product, the time required for purchasing the product can be calculated.

Furthermore, based on the travel route information for each customer stored in the database, the customer's flow line is judged, and layout settings that take into account customer trends such as the setting of sales floor layouts that are efficient for shopping and the distribution of customer congestion It can be performed.
The position coordinate calculation process in the data analysis process will be described in more detail. First, the absolute position coordinates X ₀ and Y ₀ of the initial position transmission device 17 are stored as the initial position, and the azimuth information θ ₀ is used as the cumulative rotation angle θa. Store in the cumulative rotation angle storage area. Thereby, the initial position of the shopping cart 3 is stored in the movement route storage area. At this time, the direction of the side bar portions 5a and 5b of the cart yard 4 is assumed to be the Y-axis direction of the XY orthogonal coordinate system, and the azimuth information θ ₀ is assumed to be 90 °.

When the shopping cart 3 is retracted to be pulled out from the cart yard 4, the angular velocity ω detected by the piezoelectric gyro 8 when the wheel speed pulse is input is determined by the shopping cart 3 at the sidebar portions 5a and 5b. Since it is guided and recedes straight, the detected angular velocity ω is “0”, and the rotation angle θn obtained by integrating this is also 0 °.
For this reason, since the cumulative rotation angle θa is set to the initial orientation information θ ₀ = 90 °, the new cumulative rotation angle θa obtained by adding the rotation angle θn = 0 ° to the cumulative angle θa maintains 90 °. .

On the other hand, since the shopping cart 3 is retracted, a negative value −ΔL is set as the travel distance ΔL, and the position coordinates X ₁ ′, Y ₁ ′ are calculated according to the equations (1) and (2), cos θa = Since 0, sin θa = 1, X ₁ ′ = X ₀ , Y ₁ ′ = Y ₀ −ΔL, and the calculated position coordinates X ₁ ′, Y ₁ ′ are stored in the movement path storage area. For this reason, the current estimated position coordinates X ₁ ′ and Y ₁ ′ move from the initial position coordinates X ₀ and Y ₀ in the negative direction in the Y-axis direction by a travel distance ΔL as shown in FIG.

Thereafter, since the shopping cart 3 continues to move backward, the current estimated position coordinates X _j ′ and Y _j ′ (j = 2, 3,...) Sequentially move in the negative direction in the Y-axis direction by the travel distance ΔL.
Thereafter, when the shopping cart 3 is rotated in the clockwise direction, the angular velocity ω of the shopping cart 3 is detected from the piezoelectric gyro 8 accordingly, and by integrating this, a negative rotation angle θn is calculated and accumulated. The rotation angle θa decreases from 90 °.

Therefore, the position coordinates X _j ′, Y _j ′ calculated according to the equations (1) and (2) move according to the rotation of the shopping cart 3 as shown in FIG. Is moved forward in the X-axis direction, the cumulative rotation angle θa becomes 0 °, and the travel distance ΔL becomes a positive value, and the position coordinates X _j ′, calculated according to the equations (1) and (2) are obtained. Y _j ′ moves in the X-axis direction.

After that, if the shopping cart 3 is moved forward in a counterclockwise direction so as to go to the sales floor 51 in the vicinity of the cart yard 4a, the position coordinates X _j ′, Y _j ′ corresponding to the movement path of the shopping cart 3 are correspondingly moved. Are calculated and sequentially stored in the movement path analysis information storage area.
In this way, the cumulative rotation angle θa is updated as the shopping cart 3 moves, and the current estimated position coordinates X _j ′, Y _j ′ are sequentially calculated and sequentially stored in the movement path storage area. Since the detection error is accumulated in the piezoelectric gyro 8, in order to correct this, the shopping cart 3 reaches a position near the RFID tag 22 disposed on the column 21, and wireless communication with the RFID tag 22 is performed. When it becomes possible, in the movement route information collection process of FIG. 5, the process proceeds from step S6 to step S7, and the current position acquisition flag FP is reset to “0”. Therefore, the process proceeds to step S8 and the RFID tag 22 Current position coordinates X _P and Y _P and azimuth information θ _P are acquired. At this time, the RFID tag 22 has the current position coordinates X _P1 , Y _{P1 to} X _P4 , Y _P4 and the direction information θ in each path when the communication range reaches the communication range for each path near the support column 21. and transmits to the control unit 6 of the cart 3 and can communicate the current position information composed of the _P1 through? _P4. Therefore, in the control unit 6, it is possible to determine from which direction the RFID tag 22 has been approached from the moving path so far, and the current position coordinates X _Pi and Y _Pi corresponding to the approach direction and the direction information θ _Pi. (I = 1 to 4) is determined, and the current position coordinates X _Pi and Y _Pi are stored in the movement path storage area, and the azimuth information θ _Pi is stored in the cumulative rotation angle storage area as the cumulative rotation angle θa.

  As described above, according to the embodiment, by providing the shopping cart 3 with the incremental rotary encoder 7 and the piezoelectric gyro 8, it is possible to accurately detect the movement path of the shopping cart 3. . At this time, it is not necessary for the customer to have a device for detecting the moving route, and the moving route can be detected without bothering the customer.

  Moreover, regarding the accumulated error that occurs in the piezoelectric gyro 8, the current position coordinates and direction can be corrected by communicating with the RFID tag 22 disposed on the support column 21. Since the expression gyro 8 is reset, the influence of the accumulated error can be suppressed. At this time, since the RFID tag 22 is provided on the column 21, there is an effect that it is not necessary to change the position of the RFID tag 22 even when the layout of the sales floor is changed.

Further, the control unit 6 mounted on the shopping cart 3 only collects the travel route information, and the travel route is analyzed using another processing device (personal computer 40). This can be reduced and an inexpensive CPU can be applied.
In addition, since the travel route information acquisition means for acquiring the travel route information collected by the control unit 6 of the shopping cart 3 is provided at the checkout place where the charge of the shopping item is settled, the travel from the customer to the time when the fee is settled. Route information can be acquired with certainty, and the payment information of the POS system provided at the checkout office and the movement route information are stored together in the database to accurately grasp the relationship between the customer's movement route and the purchased item. The customer trend can be analyzed accurately, and the analysis result can be used to set a sales floor layout that allows the customer to efficiently shop.

When the shopping cart 3 is returned to the cart yard 4, the input connector 16a formed on the shopping cart 3 is engaged with the output connector 16b formed on the end bar portion 5c or the output connector 16c of another shopping cart 3. Thus, the battery 15 is connected to the charging device 16 and the charging device 16 automatically charges the battery 15.
Further, when the program update processing shown in FIG. 9 is executed by the program update device 18 outside business hours, and the program executed by the arithmetic processing device 10 in the control unit 6 of the shopping cart 3 is changed and an update program exists. By sequentially accessing the communicable shopping cart 3 and automatically updating the update program, and for the shopping cart 3 for which the update program has been updated, record the update completion in the corresponding ID information in the management table. The update program is updated for other shopping carts whose update completion is not recorded in this management table, and this process is continued until there is no shopping cart 3 that is communicable and not updated.

In this way, by simply returning the shopping cart 3 to the cart yard 4, the battery 15 can be charged and the program required by the arithmetic processing unit 10 can be updated, and the shopping cart can be automatically updated without any labor. Can be maintained.
In the above embodiment, the case has been described in which the incremental rotary encoder 7 is provided on the fixed wheel 3a of the shopping cart 3 so as to grasp the forward and backward movement of the wheel 3a. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Instead, when the forward and backward movement of the shopping cart 3 is detected by providing a longitudinal acceleration sensor, a wheel speed sensor that outputs a wheel speed pulse according to the rotation of the wheel 3a is provided instead of the rotary encoder 7. In short, a sensor capable of measuring the moving direction and the moving distance of the shopping cart 3 may be provided.

  Moreover, although the said embodiment demonstrated the case where position coordinate X ', Y' was calculated based on traveling distance (DELTA) L and cumulative rotation angle (theta) a, it is not limited to this, Traveling speed V of the shopping cart 3 Can be calculated according to the following equations (3) and (4), and any other estimated navigation (dead reckoning) can be applied. it can.

X ′ = X + V · Δt · cos θa (3)
Y ′ = Y + V · Δt · sin θa (4)
Here, Δt is a sampling period.

  Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the case where the personal computer 40 performs data analysis processing to calculate the position coordinates X ′, Y ′ and the cumulative rotation angle θa has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. 3, every time the current position information is acquired from the RFID tag 22 by the arithmetic processing unit 10 of the control unit 6 arranged in 3, the drift amount of the piezoelectric gyro 8 is calculated, and the angular velocity collected so far based on the drift amount ω is corrected, the position information is calculated by performing the calculations of the formulas (1) and (2) based on the corrected angular velocity ω and the cumulative rotation angle θa, and this is stored as the movement path information. May be.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the case where the RFID tag 22 is disposed on the support column 21 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it is disposed on a structure such as a wall surface, ceiling, or floor surface of a building. Can do. Further, short-range wireless communication means such as Bluetooth or wireless LAN can be applied with the communication range limited instead of the RFID tag.
Still further, in order to correct the accumulated error of the piezoelectric gyro 8, not only when the RFID tag 22 is applied, a landmark is formed on the floor surface, and this landmark is imaged by an imaging device. Position information may be acquired, and in this case, the movement direction and the movement speed can be calculated by performing the same processing as the optical mouse from the floor image captured by the imaging device. The position coordinates X ′ and Y ′ can be calculated by the above equations (3) and (4).

Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the case where the charging device 16 had a contact-type connector electrically connected with the battery 15 was demonstrated, it is not limited to this, The non-contact-type charging device by electromagnetic induction May be applied.
Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the case where the piezoelectric gyro is applied as the angular velocity detection means has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a gyro having an arbitrary configuration can be applied. An angular velocity sensor other than a gyro can be applied as long as the angular velocity (yaw rate) can be detected.

It is a schematic structure figure showing one embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view which shows a cart place. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the control unit arrange | positioned at the shopping cart. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a POS system. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the movement route information collection process procedure performed with a control unit. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the movement route information formation process procedure performed with a control unit. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the data acquisition process procedure performed with a POS system. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the data-analysis processing procedure performed with the personal computer for analysis. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a program update processing procedure executed by the program update device 18. It is explanatory drawing which shows the movement path | route of a shopping cart.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Store, 2 ... Entrance / exit, 3 ... Shopping cart, 3a ... Fixed wheel, 4A, 4B ... Cart place, 5 ... Guide bar, 6 ... Control unit, 7 ... Encoder, 8 ... Piezoelectric gyro, 9 ... Sensor unit, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Processing unit, 11 ... Memory, 12 ... Communication control part, 13 ... Wireless communication antenna, 14 ... RFID receiving part, 15 ... Battery, 16 ... Charging device, 17 ... Initial information transmission device, 21 ... Support | pillar, 22 ... RFID tag 31... Checkout office 32. POS system 33. Moving path data communication unit 34. Antenna 35. Merchandise information input unit 36. Display unit 37. Arithmetic processing unit 38 ... memory 40 .. analysis Personal computer, 42 ... database

Claims (9)

A customer movement route information collection device for collecting customer movement route information,
A traveling state detecting means for detecting a traveling state attached to a shopping cart used by a customer; an initial information setting means which is disposed in a cart place of the shopping cart and sets an initial position and direction when the shopping cart starts to move; A travel route information forming unit that forms travel route information based on the travel state detected by the travel state detection unit; and an automatic maintenance unit that is disposed in the cart place and performs the maintenance of the travel route information forming unit. A customer travel route information collection device characterized by that. A customer movement route information collection device for collecting customer movement route information,
A traveling state detecting means for detecting a traveling state attached to a shopping cart used by a customer; an initial information setting means which is disposed in a cart place of the shopping cart and sets an initial position and direction when the shopping cart starts to move; A travel route information forming unit that forms travel route information based on the travel state detected by the travel state detection unit; an automatic maintenance unit that is disposed in the cart place and performs maintenance of the travel route information forming unit; A customer travel route information collection device comprising travel route information acquisition means for acquiring travel route information formed by travel route information forming means.   2. The travel route information forming unit is configured to delete the travel route information stored in the travel route forming unit when initial information is received from the initial information setting unit. Or the customer movement path | route information collection apparatus of 2 description.   3. The customer according to claim 2, wherein the travel route forming unit is configured to delete the accumulated travel route information when the travel route information obtaining unit obtains the travel route information. 4. Travel route information collection device.   The movement path forming means confirms that the movement path information of the movement path information forming means is erased when receiving the initial information from the initial information setting means, and the movement path information is not erased. 3. The customer travel route information collection device according to claim 1, further comprising travel route information erasure confirmation means for erasing the travel route information.   6. The initial information setting means includes an initial information transmitting means for transmitting azimuth information and position information of a shopping cart disposed in the cart storage area as initial information. The customer travel route information collection device according to Item 1.   The said automatic maintenance means is comprised so that it may be connected in cascade with a charging device when the said shopping cart is returned to the said cart place, and it is comprised so that a battery may be charged. The customer movement route information collection device described in 1.   8. The automatic maintenance unit is configured to update a program executed by the movement route information forming unit when the shopping cart is returned to the cart place. The customer travel route information collection device according to any one of the preceding claims.   9. The customer travel route information collection device according to claim 2, wherein the travel route information acquisition means is added to a POS system disposed at a fee settlement position.

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