JP2011186628A - Flow line research support system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable accurate flow line measurement which reduces a cost, a time and an effort of installation or operation. <P>SOLUTION: A flow line research support system has: a terminal 300, and an information processing apparatus 100. The terminal 300 has: a position orientation signal receiving part which receives a position orientation signal which is wirelessly transmitted from a plurality of antennas prepared in a base station in a flow line observation area, a position orientation part which orientates the own current position based on phase difference of each received position orientation signal; and a history transmission part which transmits position history information containing the information which shows the orientated current position, the information on obtaining time of the information and own identification information to the information processing apparatus 100. The information processing apparatus 100 has a flow line information output part which receives the position history information from the terminal 300, stores it in a storage part, collates the position history information for each acquisition time with map information of the flow line observation area held beforehand in the storage part, specifies transition history for each acquisition time of the terminal position in the flow line observation area as the flow line information, and outputs the flow line information concerned to the output part. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a flow line survey support system, and more specifically, to a technique that can reduce the cost and labor of system introduction and operation as compared with conventional techniques and enables accurate flow line measurement.

  It is important to consider and analyze the sales strategy on the store side for customers visiting a commercial facility such as a store to investigate and analyze how they moved within the facility and led to purchasing behavior. For example, it can be said that the longer the customer flow in the store, the longer the customer stays in the specific area and the more products they see, leading to an increase in purchase opportunities, that is, an increase in the unit price of customers. On the other hand, if the customer's flow line does not extend to the back of the store and stays near the entrance, the opportunity to let customers know the products placed behind the store from that location is lost, that is, the purchase opportunity is lost. It can be said.

In stores that consider these “traffic lines,” for example, products that are frequently purchased are arranged continuously from the entrance along the outer periphery of the floor, or customers are taken to the back of the store using pop advertisements. It has been devised. The idea intended to improve the customer flow line includes a change in the sales floor layout and the product display method.
Therefore, in order to verify the effects of various measures related to customer traffic on customer purchasing behavior, a system has been proposed in which tags and sensors are installed in each display shelf and aisle to grasp the customer's traffic flow. . As such a system, for example, the following has been proposed under the problem of generating accurate flow line information of a moving body moving in a facility.

  That is, a wireless ID tag attached to a mobile object, a plurality of antennas installed at each boundary position between a plurality of areas formed by dividing the inside of a facility, and any one of the plurality of antennas Passing information acquisition means for acquiring tag identification information indicating the wireless ID tag and antenna identification information indicating the passed antenna from the wireless ID tag passing through the antenna, the tag identification information, the antenna identification information, and the wireless ID A flow line information processing unit, comprising: flow line information generation means for generating flow line information indicating a movement state of the mobile body based on passage time information indicating a time when the tag passes through the antenna. This is a system (see Patent Document 1).

  In addition, in the store, one of the wireless LAN access point and the RFID tag is acquired under the problem of efficiently acquiring information on various events obtained in the store at low cost and providing it to the store or manufacturer as marketing data. Or, both are installed, and the position of the shopping cart is obtained by measuring the radio wave reception intensity of the wireless LAN built-in device provided in the shopping cart at the wireless LAN access point, or the radio wave of the RFID tag is An in-store flow line grasping system that performs one or both of acquiring the position of the shopping cart by receiving it with an RFID reader provided in the shopping cart and storing the flow line in the store of the shopping cart as digital data And when obtaining the location of the shopping cart Based on the acquisition time, the starting point and the ending point are determined, and when the moving speed from the starting point to the ending point deviates from a predetermined reference value, the starting point and the ending point are removed, and the shelf in the store is impassable. When the start point or the end point is located at a place (hereinafter referred to as “area”), the area is cut by a diagonal line, the start point or the end point is moved outside the nearest opposite side, and the start point to the end point is moved. An in-store flow line grasping system (see Patent Document 2), which includes a processing unit that corrects a flow line by detouring the flow line when it overlaps the area, has also been proposed.

JP 2005-71252 A JP 2006-236146 A

  When the flow line is grasped using tags and sensors, the flow line can be grasped relatively accurately if the tags and sensors are densely installed in the target area. However, there are problems such as a high cost and labor for precisely installing tags and sensors, and a need to re-install tags and sensors every time the store layout is changed. In addition, although a technique for grasping a flow line at a low cost using a wireless LAN is assumed, there is a problem that it is difficult to accurately grasp a customer's flow line due to a large measurement error.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and a main object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of reducing the cost and labor of introducing and operating a system compared to the conventional technique and enabling accurate flow line measurement.

  The flow line survey support system of the present invention that solves the above problems includes a position determination signal receiving unit that receives a position determination signal wirelessly transmitted from each of a plurality of antennas provided in a base station in a flow line observation area, A position locating unit for locating its current position based on the phase difference of each received position locating signal, information indicating the current position determined, information on acquisition time of the information, and position including its own identification information A terminal having a history transmission unit for transmitting history information to an information processing apparatus or a base station; and receiving the location history information from the terminal or via a base station, storing the location history information in the storage unit, By comparing the stored position history information for each acquisition time with the map information of the flow line observation area previously stored in the storage unit, the transition history for each acquisition time of the terminal position in the flow line observation area is obtained. Flow line Identified as, and outputs the flow line information to the output unit, characterized in that it comprises an information processing apparatus having a flow line information output unit.

  Further, in the information processing apparatus of the flow line survey support system, the storage unit includes, as the map information, at least one of each product located in the flow line observation area, a display device of each product, a salesperson, and a sales promotion device. Is further stored, the flow line information output unit collates the position history information for each acquisition time stored in the storage unit and the map information of the flow line observation area, The transition history for each acquisition time of the positional relationship between at least one of a product, display device, salesperson, and sales promotion device in the flow line observation area and the predetermined device is specified as flow line information, and the flow line information is displayed on the display device. It is good also as what is output.

  Further, in the information processing apparatus of the flow line survey support system, the storage unit updates the generation every time the location of at least one of a product, a display device, a salesperson, and a sales promotion device changes in the flow line observation area. The flow line information output unit collates the position history information for each acquisition time stored in the storage unit with map information of a plurality of generations in the flow line observation area. Identifying the transition history at each acquisition time of the positional relationship between the product, display device, salesperson, and sales promotion device and the predetermined device in the flow line observation area for each generation as flow line information, It is good also as what outputs the flow line information for every to a display apparatus.

According to the present invention, it is possible to suppress installation base stations and the like, and to reduce the cost and labor of introduction and operation as compared with the related art, and it is possible to grasp the flow line of customers and the like with high accuracy. For example, when changing the layout of display shelves, desks, etc., it is not necessary to change the position of tags and sensors, and unnecessary costs and labor are not generated.
Therefore, it is possible to measure the flow line with high accuracy while reducing the cost and labor of introducing and operating the system.

1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a flow line survey support system 1. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a base station 200. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating functions of a base station 200. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a cart 300. FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating functions of a cart 300. It is a figure which shows the data format of a position location signal. It is a figure which shows the positional relationship of the base station 200 and the cart 300. FIG. It is a figure explaining the positional relationship of the antenna 2151 which comprises the antenna group 215, and the cart 300. FIG. It is a figure which shows the positional relationship of the base station 200 and the cart 300 in the spot. It is a flowchart explaining a position location process (S1000). 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of an information processing apparatus 100. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating functions of the information processing apparatus 100. FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the positional history information in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the map information in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of an output of flow line information. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence example of the flow line investigation assistance method in this embodiment.

---- Overview of flow line survey support system ---
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration example of a flow line survey support system 1 of the present embodiment. The flow line survey support system 1 is a computer system that can reduce the cost and labor of introducing and operating a system for performing a flow line survey, and enables accurate flow line measurement. This flow line survey support system 1 is accompanied by a cart 300 (“terminal”) being used by a person who is the subject of a flow line survey, for example, a supermarket 2 = customer 2G in the flow line observation area. And a plurality of base stations 200 installed at various locations in the flow line observation area (the ceiling, pillars, etc. of the supermarket 2), and the information processing apparatus 100 installed in the store management area or the like. However, although the supermarket 2 is given as an example of the flow line observation area in the present embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and it is a place and situation where the flow line observation needs to be performed. It can be applied in any situation where installation is possible.

  The base station 200 is communicably connected to the information processing apparatus 100 via a wired or wireless communication network 50 such as a dedicated line or the Internet. Communication via the communication network 50 is performed according to a protocol such as TCP / IP. The information processing apparatus 100 and the base station 200 are assigned network addresses (for example, IP addresses) for performing communication via the communication network 50. A terminal attached to the cart 300 is a mobile phone, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistance), a small personal computer, or the like.

  In the supermarket 2 which is the flow line observation area, a passage 2A having a width necessary for shopping with the cart 300 is stretched so as to face the display shelf 2B of the product 3 = the display device. A salesperson 2D who performs various operations such as product replenishment, arrangement, display, cooking, and demonstration sales is arranged at a predetermined location in the supermarket, and provides services to customers 2G, sales promotion activities, and the like as needed. In the case of sales promotion activities, for example, sales promotion devices 4 such as a product appeal, a signboard, a poster, and a video / audio reproduction / output device are also used. These are also arranged in any place in the supermarket 2. Yes.

  On the other hand, the cart 300 is for the customer 2G shopping in the supermarket 2 to temporarily store the purchased product 3 taken out from the display shelf 2B arranged facing the passage 2A and transport it to the cash register 2C. In this embodiment, a terminal equipped with wireless communication means necessary for realizing flow line survey support is provided. On the other hand, the base station 200 transmits a radio signal in the flow line observation area, thereby enabling position determination in the cart 300. Hereinafter, the configuration, structure, and the like of each device included in the flow line survey support system 1 will be described in detail.

--- Block diagram ---
FIG. 2A is a block diagram showing a configuration of base station 200. As shown in the figure, the base station 200 includes a CPU 211, a memory 212, a communication interface 213, an antenna group 215, and the like. The CPU 211 executes programs stored in the memory 212 and realizes various functions provided in the base station 200. The communication interface 213 communicates with the information processing apparatus 100 via the communication network 50. The wireless communication interface 214 transmits a wireless signal for position location described later.

  The antenna group 215 includes a plurality of circularly polarized directivity antennas 2151 (see FIG. 6 for details). The CPU 211, the memory 212, the communication interface 213, and the antenna group 215 are connected to be communicable with each other via the bus 220. The antenna group 215 is provided with a changeover switch 2152. The changeover switch 2152 connects to the wireless communication interface 214 by selecting or automatically selecting one of the antennas 2151 constituting the antenna group 215.

  FIG. 2B shows main functions of the base station 200. The communication unit 261 controls the communication interface 213 to exchange various information with the information processing apparatus 100. The position determination signal transmission unit 263 transmits a radio signal (hereinafter referred to as a position determination signal) used for determining the current position of the cart 300. The setting information storage unit 264 stores the setting information described above.

  FIG. 3A shows the hardware configuration of the cart 300. As shown in the figure, the cart 300 includes a CPU 311, a memory 312, a wireless communication interface 313, a directional antenna 314, an RTC (Real Time Clock), a clock circuit 317, an RSSI circuit 216 (RSSI: Radio Signal Strength Indicator).

  The CPU 311 realizes various functions included in the cart 300 by executing a program stored in the memory 312. The timer circuit 317 generates / outputs the current time in response to a request from the CPU 311 or the like. The RSSI circuit 320 generates and outputs a signal indicating the received signal strength of a radio wave such as a position location signal received by the wireless communication interface 313.

  FIG. 3B shows the function of the cart 300. In the figure, a position location signal receiver 331 receives a location signal transmitted from the base station 200 by the wireless communication interface 313. The information transmission / reception unit 332 communicates with the information processing apparatus 100 via the communication network 50, receives (downloads) update information of programs and data executed by the cart 300 such as firmware, and is used in the information processing apparatus 100. Various information is transmitted (uploaded) from the cart 300 to the information processing apparatus 100.

  The position locating unit 334 determines the current position of the cart 300 based on the position locating signal received by the position locating signal receiving unit 331. When necessary, the current position of the cart 300 determined is transmitted from the cart 300 to the base station 200 by wireless communication, and is transmitted from the base station 200 to the information processing apparatus 100 via the communication network 50. The specific mechanism of position location will be described later. Information indicating the current position of the cart 300 determined by the position locating unit 334 is information indicating the current position of the cart 300 expressed by the orthogonal coordinate system (X axis, Y axis) set in the base station 200 (ΔX, ΔY). Note that the cart 300 naturally has a general frame structure such as wheels and cargo.

<Positioning function>
The mechanism for positioning the cart 300 in the flow line survey support system 1 is realized by the function of the positioning system 10 configured to include the base station 200 and the cart 300 existing around the base station 200.

  The radio communication interface 214 of the base station 200 described above transmits a radio signal subjected to spectrum spread while periodically switching a plurality of antennas 2151 constituting the antenna group 215. On the other hand, the positioning signal receiving unit 331 of the cart 300 receives a signal transmitted from each antenna 2151 of the base station 200 by the antenna 314. In addition, in order to prevent radio wave interference between adjacent base stations, each base station 200 transmits a location determination signal from adjacent base stations 200 so as not to be transmitted at the same time by sharing a synchronization signal between the base stations 200. Timing adjustment control is performed.

  FIG. 4 shows the data format of the position location signal transmitted from the base station 200. As shown in the figure, the position location signal includes the above-described synchronization signal 611, location code 612 (UCODE), antenna information 613, and measurement signal 614. The synchronization signal 611 is composed of a total of 48 bits of data including a 32-bit preamble signal and a 16-bit synchronization signal.

  The location code 612 (UCODE) is information for specifying the installation location of the base station 200. The place code 612 is a 128-bit code assigned to each position in accordance with the unified standard.

  The antenna information 613 includes the height of the antenna 2151, the identifier of the antenna 2151, 16-bit data indicating the directivity direction of the antenna 2151, and the like.

  The measurement signal 614 includes a signal for detecting the direction in which the cart 300 exists and the relative distance to the cart 300, and includes a 2048-chip spreading code that is transmitted while sequentially switching the four antennas 2151 as the base points.

  FIG. 5 shows a case where the customer 2G who is using the cart 300 exists on the side of the pillar where the base station 200 is installed. In the figure, the cart 300 is present at a ground height 1 (m), and the base station 200 is installed at a ground height H (m). Further, the distance from directly below the base station 200 to the cart 300 is L (m).

  FIG. 6 shows the relative positional relationship between the antennas 2151 constituting the antenna group 215 of the base station 200 and the cart 300. Each antenna 2151 that constitutes the antenna group 215 of the base station 200 is installed, for example, with the directivity direction obliquely downward. The antenna group 215 shown in the figure has a distance of 3 cm (this distance corresponds to a quarter wavelength when a radio wave in the 2.4 GHz band is used as a positioning signal) and is arranged adjacent to each other in a substantially square shape. It has a circularly polarized directional antenna.

Here, if the angle between the horizontal direction at the height of the antenna group 215 and the direction of the cart 300 with respect to the antenna group 215 is α,
α = arcTan (D (m) / L (m)) = arcSin (ΔL (cm) / 3 (cm))
It becomes. However, ΔL (cm) in the above formula is a propagation path length difference between two specific antennas 2151 of the antenna group 215 and the cart 300.

If the phase difference between the positioning signals transmitted from the two specific antennas 2151 constituting the antenna group 215 is Δθ, the ΔL is
ΔL (cm) = Δθ / 2π / λ (cm)
It becomes. For example, when a 2.4 GHz band radio wave is used as the position location signal, the wavelength λ≈12 (cm), so α = arcSin (2Δθ / π)
It becomes. Here, since α = Δθ (radian) in the measurable range (−π / 2 <Δθ <π / 2), the direction in which the base station 200 exists can be specified from the above equation.

Next, a method for locating the position of the cart 300 using the above result will be described. FIG. 7 shows the positional relationship between the base station 200 and the cart 300 in the field. As shown in the figure, the ground height of the antenna group 215 of the base station 200 is H (m), the ground height of the cart 300 is h (m), and the position of the ground surface immediately below the base station 200 is the origin, which is an orthogonal coordinate axis ( (X axis, Y axis) is set, ΔΦ (x) is an angle formed between the base station 200 and the cart 300 and the X axis, and an angle formed between the base station 200 and the cart 300 and the Y axis is ΔΦ. If (y), the position of the cart 300 with respect to the origin can be obtained from the following equation.
Δd (x) = (H−h) × Tan (ΔΦ (x))
Δd (y) = (H−h) × Tan (ΔΦ (y))
If the origin position is (X1, Y1), the current position (Xx, Yy) of the cart 300 is
Xx = X1 + Δd (x)
Yy = Y1 + Δd (y)
As required. The positioning principle described above is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2004-184078, 2005-351877, 2005-351878, 2006-23261, and 2008-. No. 256559 and the like.

  Next, a specific example of the current position determination process of the cart 300 (hereinafter referred to as position determination process S1000) performed by the position determination unit 334 of the cart 300 will be described. The current position locating process is executed at any time, for example, at a preset timing for reporting the current position of the cart 300 to the information processing apparatus 100.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the position location process. As shown in the figure, at the time of positioning, first, the positioning unit 334 acquires the received signal strength of the positioning signal received from the RSSI circuit 320 by the positioning signal receiving unit 331 (S1011). Next, the position locating unit 334 locates the current position of the cart 300 using the position locating signal according to the above-described mechanism, and further associates the time information obtained from the time measuring circuit 317 = the acquisition time with its own cart identification information. In addition, position history information is generated (S1012). Then, the position location unit 334 passes the generated position history information to the history transmission unit 336 (S1013).

--- Configuration of information processing device ---
Next, the configuration of the information processing apparatus 100 and the functional units (means) configured and held based on, for example, a program will be described. FIG. 9A is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the information processing apparatus 100, and FIG. 9B is a diagram illustrating functions of the information processing apparatus 100.

  For example, a server device can be assumed as the information processing apparatus 100. The information processing apparatus 100 includes a storage unit 101 such as a hard disk drive that stores programs and necessary databases, a memory 103 that is a destination for reading a program from the storage unit 101, and an arithmetic unit such as a CPU that performs various controls such as program execution. 104, an input device 105 such as a keyboard and mouse that accepts an instruction from a user, a display device 106 such as a display or speaker that is an output destination of flow line information, and communication that communicates with the base station 200 via the communication network 50 An interface 107 is provided.

  In addition, the information processing apparatus 100 includes a setting information storage unit 123 that stores map information 125 including information (hereinafter, referred to as setting information) used when the base station 200 provides a function such as a position location function. I have. The setting information includes coordinate values in the coordinate system of the flow line observation area (here, the floor surface of the supermarket 2) of the base station 200, or latitude / longitude / installation height.

  Such an information processing apparatus 100 communicates with the base station 200 via the communication network 50 via the communication interface 107 or communicates with the cart 300 via the base station 200 to obtain the position history information 1800 (the current position). And a flow line information output unit 111 that receives and stores the information in the storage unit 101. The cart 300 may generate the position history information 1800 every time information indicating the current position is acquired and transmit the position history information 1800 to the information processing apparatus 100 via the base station, or store the position history information 1800 in a memory or the like for a certain period of time. The stored information may be transmitted periodically.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the position history information 1800 that the cart 300 according to the present embodiment transmits to the information processing apparatus 100 via the base station. The position history information 1800 transmitted from the cart 300 to the information processing apparatus 100 is composed of information 1801 indicating the current position, information 1802 of acquisition time 1802 of the information 1801, and information including identification information 1803 of the cart 300. Yes.

  Further, the flow line information output unit 111 collates the position history information 1800 for each acquisition time stored in the storage unit 101 with the map information 125 of the flow line observation area stored in the storage unit 101 in advance. Then, the transition history of the cart position at the acquisition time in the supermarket 2 which is the flow line observation area is specified as flow line information, and the flow line information is output to the display device 106.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the map information 125 in the present embodiment. On the other hand, the map information 125 held by the information processing apparatus 100 in the storage unit 101 is the case where the identification information 125a of each base station 200 installed in the supermarket 2 in the flow line observation area and the floor of the supermarket are coordinate planes. And the coordinate value 125c of the arrangement position of the product 3, the display shelf 2B as the display device, the cash register 2C, the sales promotion device 4, and the salesperson 2D. The map information 125 is accumulated in the storage unit 101 with generation information 125d for each change in the location of at least one of the product 3, the display shelf 2B as a display device, the salesperson 2D, and the sales promotion device 4. It will also be done. Accordingly, the map information 125 is associated with, for example, the update date and time of map information as generation information 125d.

  Therefore, the flow line information output unit 111 reads the position history information 1800 at a certain acquisition time 1802 from the storage unit 101, and the “information indicating the current position” 1801 of the position history information 1800 is used as the map information 125 ( The position of the cart 300 on the coordinate plane of the supermarket 2 is compared with the setting information). By repeating this process for each acquisition time for the same cart 300, it is possible to specify the cart position transition history = flow line information.

  The flow line information output unit 111 outputs the flow line information to the display device 106 such as a display. FIG. 12 shows an example of output of flow line information. As the flow line information to be output, for example, the icons of the base station 200, the product 3, the display device 2B, the salesperson 2D, the sales promotion device 4, etc. on the floor plan (= coordinate plane) of the supermarket 2 Can be assumed to be drawn at the corresponding coordinate position and the movement line of the cart 300, that is, the locus corresponding to the transition of the coordinate value.

  The flow line information output unit 111 collates the position history information 1800 for each acquisition time with the map information 125 to check at least the product 3, the display device 2B, the salesperson 2D, and the sales promotion device 4 in the supermarket 2. Similarly, the transition history of each positional relationship between the cart 300 and each acquisition time may be similarly specified as flow line information, and the flow line information may be output to the display device 106.

  In addition, the flow line information output unit 111 collates the position history information 1800 for each acquisition time with each generation of the map information 125 to check the product 3, display shelf 2B, sales in the supermarket 2 for each generation. The transition history at each acquisition time of the positional relationship between at least one of the employee 2D and the sales promotion device 4 and the cart 300 is similarly specified as flow line information, and the flow line information for each generation is output to the display device 106. It is good. FIG. 12 shows an example in which the flow line information of “2010/01” and “2010/02” is displayed side by side.

  Each function unit 111 in the information processing apparatus 100 may be realized as a program stored in an appropriate storage unit 101 such as a memory 103 such as a RAM or an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), or may be realized as hardware. You may do that. When each functional unit is realized as a program, the arithmetic device 104 or the like of the information processing apparatus 100 reads the corresponding program from the storage unit 101 to the memory 103 and executes the program in accordance with the program execution.

--- Flow of flow line survey support method ---
Hereinafter, the actual procedure of the flow line survey support method in the present embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure of the flow line investigation support method in the present embodiment. Here, processing such as specifying the position of the cart 300 will be transferred to the above description, and the processing contents executed mainly by the information processing apparatus 100 will be described. As an assumed situation, there is a customer who visits the supermarket 2 for shopping, and this customer uses the cart 300 (of course, a shopping cart or the like) to shop in the store. The cart 300 prepared in the supermarket 2 is the cart 300 of the present embodiment described above, receives a radio signal from the base station 200, generates information indicating its own position = position history information 1800, A function of transmitting to the information processing apparatus 100 via the base station 200 is provided. Of course, the above-described base stations 200 are installed at predetermined intervals on, for example, the ceiling surface and pillars of the supermarket 2.

  Therefore, the cart 300 that is moving together with the customer 2G in the supermarket store generates position history information 1800 every time it acquires information indicating its current position based on a radio signal from the base station 200, and sends it to the information processing apparatus 100. Upload to the base station 200 to transmit (s100). The base station 200 receives the position history information 1800 and transfers it to the information processing apparatus 100 (s101). Needless to say, the base station 200 has a function of receiving position history information transfer requests from the cart 300 and transferring the position history information to the information processing apparatus 100. The cart 300 may store the position history information 1800 in a memory or the like for a certain period of time and periodically transmit the stored information to the information processing apparatus 100 via the base station 200.

  On the other hand, the flow line information output unit 111 of the information processing apparatus 100 receives the position history information 1800 (information indicating the current position, information on the acquisition time of the information) from the cart 300 via the base station 200 by the communication interface 107. , And information including identification information of the cart 300) is received and stored in the storage unit 101 (s102). The position history information 1800 includes information 1801 indicating the current position, information 1802 of the acquisition time of the information 1801, and information including identification information 1803 of the cart 300. Information 1801 indicating the current position includes a coordinate value of the cart 300 and identification information of the base station 200.

  Next, the flow line information output unit 111 of the information processing apparatus 100 reads position history information 1800 at a certain acquisition time 1802 from the storage unit 101, and the “information indicating the current position” 1801 of the position history information 1800 includes. The coordinate value of the cart 300 is extracted and collated with the map information 125 (s103). For example, the flow line information output unit 111 reads out the position history information 1800 of the cart 300 with the identification information “c001” of “2010/01/24/11: 30” from the storage unit 101 as a certain acquisition time 1802, A coordinate value included in “information indicating the current position” 1801 of the position history information 1800, for example, “(101.5, 102.6)” is extracted.

  The flow line information output unit 111 executes the coordinate value identification process for each cart on the position history information 1800 for each acquisition time, and obtains the transition history of the identified coordinate value for each time as flow line information ( s104). For example, for cart “c001”, the coordinate values every minute from “2010/01/24/11: 30” are “(101.5,102.6)”, “(101.5,103.0)”, “(101.5,104.5) "," (101.5,106.0) "," (103.0,106.0) "," (104.4,106.0) "," (104.4,105.3) "," (104.4,100.3) "," (106.8,100.3) ", It is assumed that a total of 10 values “(110.0,100.3)” and “(111.0,100.3)” are obtained.

  The flow line information output unit 111 outputs such flow line information to the display device 106 such as a display (s105). In this case, as already illustrated in FIG. 12, the flow line information output unit 111 sets the floor of the supermarket 2 on the coordinate plane (eg, the vertex at the lower left corner is “(0,0)” in FIG. A base station icon (stored in the storage unit 101) is displayed at the coordinates of each base station 200 read from the map information 125 of the storage unit 101 on this coordinate plane. Deploy. Similarly, the flow line information output unit 111 arranges the icons of the product 3, the display device 2B, the salesperson 2D, and the sales promotion device 4 at the corresponding coordinate positions obtained from the map information 125 on the coordinate plane, Furthermore, the flow line of the cart “c001”, that is, a locus connecting a total of 10 coordinate values every other minute from “2010/01/24/11: 30” is drawn.

  A user who browses such flow line information on a display or the like is, for example, a store manager in the supermarket 2 or a person in charge of a sales strategy. Store managers who have browsed the flow line information can efficiently grasp the high-accuracy flow lines of customers at a certain time in the store.

  The store managers who have grasped the customer flow line will review the sales floor layout and the rearrangement of the salesperson 2D and the sales promotion device 4 while looking at daily sales trends. For example, it is assumed that a large number of customers tend to stay for a long time before a certain display shelf 2B. When this display shelf 2B is in the vicinity of the store entrance, it is rearranged in the middle of the store, and instead, pop advertisements and sales promotion devices 4 that guide customers from the entrance to the corresponding display shelf 2B are placed preferentially. With this, it can be expected that customers are guided further to the back of the store using the products displayed on the display shelf 2B as a mark. In other words, it can be expected that the opportunity to focus on other products increases while the customer moves to the back of the store, leading to an increase in purchase opportunities.

  Therefore, when the sales floor layout is changed in accordance with the customer flow line, the coordinate values of the product 3 and the display shelf 2B are naturally changed, and the map information 125 held by the information processing apparatus 100 is also a new generation. Things are added from the input device 105. Therefore, in this case, the information processing apparatus 100 stores map information 125 of each generation in the storage unit 101 in which, for example, the update date and time of map information is associated as generation information.

  In this case, the flow line information output unit 111 collates the position history information 1800 for each acquisition time with the generations of the map information 125 to determine the product 3, display shelf 2B, Similarly, the transition history at each acquisition time of the positional relationship between at least one of the salesperson 2D and the sales promotion device 4 and the cart 300 is specified as flow line information, and the flow line information for each generation is output to the display device 106. It will be. The flow line information output unit 111 in this case includes, for example, a window in which the product 3 and the display shelf 2B are arranged based on the map information 125 of the previous generation “January 2010” and flow line information is drawn, Based on the map information 125 of the generation “February 2010”, the windows in which the products 3 and the display shelves 2B are arranged and the flow line information is drawn are listed on one screen (see FIG. 12). The store manager can easily recognize the new and old flow line information, that is, the change in the customer flow line before and after the layout change or the like. This means that the effect of layout changes and the like on the customer flow line can be verified.

  As described above, according to the flow line survey support system 1 of the present embodiment, the position of a cart or the like in the flow line observation area can be specified with high accuracy. In addition, as compared with the prior art in which a large number of tags and sensors must be arranged, since a predetermined number of base stations 200 may be arranged in the flow line observation area, the introduction and operation costs are also good.

  By the way, description of the above embodiment is for making an understanding of this invention easy, and does not limit this invention. It goes without saying that the present invention can be changed and improved without departing from the gist thereof, and that the present invention includes equivalents thereof.

  It should be noted that the flow line grasping technology of this embodiment includes not only the customer flow line grasping, but also customer evacuation guidance support in the store (for example, a speaker or a display device arranged in the area where the customer is located, It can also be applied to clerk assistance (for example, specifying an area where customers are staying and sending a notification to the clerk's terminal in order to respond to it).

1 Flow line survey support system 2 Flow line observation area (supermarket)
2A Aisle 2B Display shelf (display device)
2C Cash register 3 Product 4 Sales promotion device 10 Positioning system 100 Information processing apparatus 101 Storage unit 103 Memory 104 CPU (arithmetic unit)
105 Input Device 106 Output Device 107 Communication Interface 111 Flow Line Information Output Unit 125 Map Information 200 Base Station 213 Communication Interface 214 Wireless Communication Interface 216 RSSI Circuit 263 Positioning Signal Transmitter 300 Cart, Car (Terminal)
313 Wireless communication interface 317 Clock circuit 320 RSSI circuit 331 Positioning signal receiving unit 332 Information transmitting / receiving unit 334 Positioning unit 336 History transmitting unit

Claims (3)

A positioning signal receiving unit that receives a positioning signal wirelessly transmitted from each of a plurality of antennas provided in a base station in a flow line observation area;
A position locating unit for locating its current position based on the phase difference of each received position locating signal;
A terminal comprising a history transmitting unit that transmits information indicating the current location determined, information on the acquisition time of the information, and location history information including its own identification information to an information processing device or a base station;
The location history information is received from the terminal or via a base station, stored in a storage unit, the location history information for each acquisition time stored in the storage unit, and the motion stored in advance in the storage unit. The flow line information output that collates with the map information of the line observation area, specifies the transition history of the terminal position in the flow line observation area at each acquisition time as the flow line information, and outputs the flow line information to the output unit. An information processing apparatus comprising a unit;
A flow line survey support system characterized by including: In the information processing apparatus,
The storage unit further stores, as the map information, each product located in the flow line observation area, a display device of each product, a salesperson, and at least one location information of a sales promotion device,
The flow line information output unit compares the position history information for each acquisition time stored in the storage unit with the map information of the flow line observation area, and the product, display device, salesperson in the flow line observation area The transition history for each acquisition time of the positional relationship between at least one of the sales promotion devices and the predetermined device is specified as flow line information, and the flow line information is output to the output unit.
The flow line survey support system according to claim 1, wherein: In the information processing apparatus,
The storage unit holds map information in which the generation is updated for each change in the location of at least one of the product, display device, salesperson, and sales promotion device in the flow line observation area,
The flow line information output unit compares the position history information for each acquisition time stored in the storage unit with each map information of a plurality of generations of the flow line observation area, and generates a flow line observation area for each generation. The transition history at each acquisition time of the positional relationship between at least one of the product, display device, salesperson, and sales promotion device and the predetermined device is identified as flow line information, and the flow line information for each generation is output to the output unit To do,
The flow line investigation support system according to claim 2 or 3, wherein

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