JP2019016093A - Digital signage for product search - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a digital signage for product search which is easy to understand and can quickly operate.SOLUTION: The digital signage for product search includes: a product data storage unit for storing an image of a product and an attribute including a searching headline of the product as product data and storing a plurality of product data; a data table generating unit for arranging each product data in a predetermined order with respect to the search headings to generate a data table; a display unit for displaying a product search screen constituted of at least an index of the searching headings and an image of each product; an operation detecting unit for accepting an operation for the screen of the display unit; and a display control unit for making the index displayed in a middle area in upper and lower directions of the screen and making the images of the plurality of products displayed in an order of the data table in upper and lower areas of the index. When the operation detecting unit accepts an operation for a displayed index, the display control unit controls to sequentially display the images of the product included in the data table on the screen in an order starting from the index accepted by the operation detecting unit and updates the screen.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6A

Description

  The present invention relates to digital signage, and more particularly to digital signage that allows a user to search for products easily and quickly by operating digital signage.

Digital signage displays still images and moving images using a display device capable of displaying data, and provides information to an unspecified number of people instead of or supplementing conventional posters and advertising media. A large display device is used so as to attract attention from a distance as compared with a smartphone or mobile PC carried by an individual or a desktop PC used at a personal desk.
In addition, there are those that not only display unilaterally as in conventional street televisions but also accept operations on the display screen and provide information according to the viewer's preference and necessity.
For example, a vertically long liquid crystal panel is vertically divided into at least three horizontally long display areas including upper, middle, and lower stages, and a static image such as an advertisement still image is displayed in the lower display area, so that at least the middle display area is displayed. In order to display a dynamic image in response to a touch sensor operation, a display is proposed. The upper display area displays a moving image and attracts attention (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-90643

Most digital signage is used primarily for advertising. On the other hand, in recent years, there has been an increasing number of transaction forms such as mail-order sales, in which the contents are confirmed by images and characters without touching the actual product and purchased.
Even in an actual store, for example, in a store in a small city center, instead of displaying the actual product, a form in which the product and inventory are confirmed by digital signage can be considered. In such a case, when the user selects a target product using digital signage, an operation mode is considered in which information on the product is transmitted to the cashier counter and is carried from the warehouse to the cashier counter and proceeds to the purchase procedure. When the user selects a product, a form in which a product card is printed by a printer placed next to the digital signage and brought to the checkout counter is also conceivable.

As described above, it is conceivable to use digital signage for product search. The digital signage can be used for advertisement during a period when the customer does not search for products.
Compared to the case where a customer operates a personal information processing apparatus such as a smartphone or a personal computer as in the so-called Internet shopping, a product search using digital signage is easy to understand and needs to be able to operate quickly. This is because the occupation period per customer can be shortened and used efficiently.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described circumstances, and provides a digital signage for product search that is easy to understand and can be operated quickly.

  According to the present invention, an attribute including a product image and a search headline for the product is used as product data, a product data storage unit for storing a plurality of product data, and each product data in a predetermined order for the search heading. A table generation unit that generates a data table side by side, a display unit that displays a product search screen that includes at least the index of the search heading and an image of each product, and an operation detection unit that receives operations on the screen of the display unit And a display control unit that displays the index in an intermediate part in the vertical direction of the screen and displays an image of a plurality of products in the order of the data table in an area above and below the index. When the operation detection unit accepts an operation on the image of each product, the display control unit Providing product search for digital signage to update the screen to display the images of products included in the data table in the order starting from the indexes created detection unit has received the screen.

  In the digital signage for product search according to the present invention, the display control unit displays the images of the products included in the data table on the screen in the order starting from the index received by the operation detection unit. The image of the product to be displayed is displayed on the screen, the product is confirmed with the image, and the product can be selected. In addition, since the product images are displayed in the order of the search headings, the target product, that is, the target information can be easily reached.

In this embodiment, it is a block diagram which shows the structural example of digital signage. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the sales management apparatus and signage management apparatus which are shown in FIG. In this embodiment, it is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the data table which the control part of a signage management apparatus produces | generates as a table production | generation part. In this embodiment, it is explanatory drawing which shows the load management table which the control part of a signage management apparatus produces | generates as a display control part. In this embodiment, it is explanatory drawing which shows the buffer management table which the control part of a signage management apparatus produces | generates as a display control part. In this embodiment, it is the 1st explanatory view showing an example of the response to the search screen and operation of goods. In this embodiment, it is a 2nd explanatory drawing which shows an example of the response with respect to the search screen and operation of goods. In this embodiment, it is a 3rd explanatory drawing which shows an example of the response with respect to the search screen and operation of goods. In this embodiment, it is the 4th explanatory view showing an example of the response to the search screen and operation of goods. In this embodiment, it is a 1st flowchart which shows the flow of a process as a display control part which the control part of a signage management apparatus performs. In this embodiment, it is a 2nd flowchart which shows the flow of a process as a display control part which the control part of a signage management apparatus performs. In this embodiment, it is a 3rd flowchart which shows the flow of a process as a display control part which the control part of a signage management apparatus performs. In this embodiment, it is a 4th flowchart which shows the flow of a process as a display control part which the control part of a signage management apparatus performs. In this embodiment, it is a 1st flowchart which shows the flow of the background process as a display control part which the control part of a signage management apparatus performs. In this embodiment, it is a 2nd flowchart which shows the flow of the background process as a display control part which the control part of a signage management apparatus performs. In this embodiment, it is a 3rd flowchart which shows the flow of the background process as a display control part which the control part of a signage management apparatus performs. In this embodiment, it is a 4th flowchart which shows the flow of the background process as a display control part which the control part of a signage management apparatus performs. In this embodiment, it is the 1st explanatory view showing an example of a screen when an index is operated. In this embodiment, it is the 2nd explanatory view showing an example of a screen when an index is operated. In this embodiment, it is the 3rd explanatory view showing an example of a screen when an index is operated. In this embodiment, it is the 4th explanatory view showing an example of a screen when an index is operated.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings. In addition, the following description is an illustration in all the points, Comprising: It should not be interpreted as limiting this invention.

(Embodiment 1)
≪Overall structure of digital signage≫
In this embodiment, the digital signage is assumed to be composed of a plurality of devices, and the configuration will be described with reference to FIGS.
However, this is an example, and the digital signage may be configured as one apparatus. Also, some of the devices shown in FIG. 1 may be configured as an integrated device, or conversely, any of the devices shown in FIG. 1 may be configured with a plurality of devices.

As shown in FIG. 1, the digital signage 100 includes a sales management device 101, a plurality of signage management devices 102, 104, and 106, and display devices 103, 105, and 107 corresponding to the respective signage management devices. The display devices 103, 105, and 107 are equipped with a touch panel, and can detect an operation input from the user on the display screen.
As described above, the mode shown in FIG. 1 is composed of only one sales management device 101 and three pairs of signage management devices and display devices. However, the present invention is not limited to the mode shown in FIG. That is, the number of pairs is not limited to the three pairs as shown in FIG.

The sales management device 101 and the signage management devices 102, 104, and 106 are connected so as to be able to communicate with each other. The communication system is not limited, but is connected by, for example, a wired LAN.
One display device is connected to one signage management device. However, a mode in which a plurality of display devices are connected to one signage management device to perform multi-display display is also conceivable.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the sales management apparatus and the signage management apparatus illustrated in FIG. FIG. 2 shows the signage management device 102 and the display device 103 as representative examples, but the pair of the signage management device 104 and the display device 105 has the same configuration. The same applies to the pair of the signage management device 106 and the display device 107. Furthermore, even if there are further pairs of signage management devices and display devices not shown in FIG. 1, each pair has the same configuration. Hereinafter, a pair of the signage management device 102 and the display device 103 will be described as a representative example, but the same applies to other pairs.
As shown in FIG. 2, the sales management apparatus 101 includes a sales processing unit 201 that performs overall processing, a storage unit 202, and a communication interface unit 203 that transmits information on each product to an external device. ing. The storage unit 202 stores a processing program executed by the sales processing unit 201, information (product master) and images of each product related to sales management.

  The sales management apparatus 101 may perform processing for sales management in stores as well as processing related to digital signage. In this case, the product master 202a stored in the storage unit 202 is data representing the attributes of each product and sales management data of the store, and the sales management apparatus 101 may also serve as a POS function.

The signage management device includes a communication interface unit 204 for receiving information on each product transmitted from the sales management device 101, a control unit 205 for controlling the entire device, a data storage unit 206, and an input / output unit 207.
The control unit 205 is configured by hardware including peripheral circuits with a CPU at the center, and functions as a table generation unit and a display control unit by executing a processing program stored in the data storage unit 206, and other processing. I do. The data storage unit 206 includes a volatile memory and a nonvolatile memory, and stores information on each product received from the sales management apparatus 101 as product data 206a in addition to the processing program described above. The attribute of each product is stored in the data storage unit 206 as a product master 206b, and the image of each product is stored as a product image file 206c. The merchandise master 206b may have all of the information of the merchandise master 202a, but may be a part thereof. That is, the product master 206b may be a subset of the product master 202a.

The control unit 205 generates a data table 206d based on the product data stored in the data storage unit 206, and stores display data related to the product search screen in the display buffer 206g based on the generated data table 206d. To 103.
The display buffer 206g of the data storage unit 206 stores the display data of the search screen displayed on the display device 103 and the display data of one or more pages before and after the search screen being displayed. The load management table 206e and the buffer management table 206f are tables for managing the display contents of the product search screen.

  The input / output unit 207 is display data generated from the product data by the control unit 205 as a display control unit, and outputs and displays display data constituting a product search screen and sales promotion information on the display device 103. In addition, the control unit 205 receives a signal related to an operation on a product search screen or the like displayed on the display device 103 from the display device 103. That is, a detection signal of a touch panel included in the display device 103 is provided to the control unit 205.

≪Data table and search screen generation≫
Next, the data table 206d generated by the control unit 205 as a table generation unit will be described.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a data table generated by the control unit 205 as a table generation unit in this embodiment. In FIG. 3, items arranged in the horizontal direction indicate “product code”, “product name”, “product name (kana)” and product image file names corresponding to the product attributes included in the product data. These attributes are for use in displaying a product search screen. The “product code” and “product name” are displayed on the product search screen together with the product image referred to by the “image file name”. “Product name (kana)” is used to sort images of each product and arrange them on the search screen in that order.
Each product is sorted in the order of “product name (kana)” and arranged in the vertical direction. In the example shown in FIG. 3, 150 items 150 to 150 are shown (see the item “Row Number”).

The control unit 205 generates a data table 206d as a table generation unit according to the following procedure.
1) Sorting each product stored in the product master 206b based on the product name (kana).
2) A range of products to be displayed on the search screen corresponding to the character of the selected index is determined based on the data table 206d, and a product image from the product image file 206c of each product to be displayed on one search screen. To get. Then, it is stored in the display buffer 206g together with the “product code” and “product name” in the data table 206d.
3) The image of each product stored (loaded) in the display buffer is output to the display device 103 and displayed on the screen together with “product code” and “product name” in the sort order of the data table 206d.
4) The image of each product on the display device 103 is displayed in a blurred manner until display data of all products to be displayed on one search screen is output to the display device 103.
5) When all the images are output on the screen to be displayed on one search screen, the image blur is canceled. Thereafter, display data corresponding to the pages before and after the search screen being displayed is stored in the display buffer 206g.
6) When a page feed or page return operation is performed, an image of each product stored in advance in the display buffer 206g is output to the display device 103 to update the screen.

In addition, the control unit 205 generates a load management table 206e and a buffer management table 206f. The load management table 206e and the buffer management table 206f manage the reading status of display data when the display data is stored in the display buffer 206g so as to output the display data to the display device 103 equipped with a touch panel.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the load management table 206e. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of the buffer management table 206f generated by the control unit 205.

The load management table 206e represents one of the following states for all the products whose row numbers are 1-150. When each product is displayed in any one of the display frames 503a of the load positions 1 to 16, it is in a loaded state. If it has never been displayed, it is not yet displayed. The state that is currently being updated to be displayed on the screen is a state that is being loaded.
The buffer management table 206f stores the line numbers of the products displayed in the display frames 503a corresponding to the load positions 1 to 16.
In the example shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the products with line numbers 1 to 12 are displayed at the load positions (display positions) 1 to 12, respectively.
The load management table 206e shown in FIG. 4 is in a state in which the products with line numbers 1 to 12 have been loaded, the products with line numbers 13 to 16 are being loaded, and the products with line numbers 17 to 150 are not yet loaded. It shows that it is in a state.
The buffer management table shown in FIG. 5 shows a state in which the products with line numbers 1 to 12 are displayed at the load positions 1 to 12 and the load positions 13 to 16 are not yet displayed.

≪Display and operation of product search screen≫
The signage management apparatus 102 displays the screen shown in FIG. 6A on the display apparatus 103 equipped with a touch panel as a product search screen.
The screen shown in FIG. 6A shows an index used for searching for a product, and a band-shaped index 501 for selecting a search headline is arranged.

A product display area 503 for displaying a plurality of product images side by side is arranged above and below the index 501. A product having a product name corresponding to the character selected by the user operating the index 501 and products before and after the product name are displayed in the product display area 503. For each product, an image of the product and the corresponding “product code” and “product name” are displayed.
In the product display area 503, eight products in two columns in the vertical direction and four columns in the horizontal direction are arranged above and below the index, respectively, and 16 products are arranged in a row on one screen. . The position for displaying the image of each of the 16 products is determined as a display frame 503a, and the display position of each of the 16 products is determined in advance. In FIG. 6A, the display position of each of the 16 products is indicated by 1 to 16 of the load position.

On the left and right sides of the index 501, a page feed button 502f and a page return button 502r for switching display pages are arranged.
In response to an operation on the index 501, page feed button 502f and page return button 502r, the control unit 205 determines which range of the data table 206d corresponds to the 16 products to be displayed at the load positions 1 to 16. To do. Then, the product with the smallest arrangement order in the determined range is displayed at the load position 1, and the products are displayed at the load positions 2 to 16 in order.

For example, when the signage management apparatus 102 is activated for the first time, the control unit 205 as a table generation unit generates a data table 206d and associates a pointer with the head of the data table (a product with a line number of 1). This is equivalent to the case where the first character “A” of the index 501 is selected. Corresponding to the position of the pointer, the control unit 205 as a display control unit displays the screen with the products having line numbers 1 to 16 corresponding to the load positions 1 to 16 respectively.
After that, for example, when the character “ka” in the index 501 is selected, the signage management apparatus 102 follows the data table in FIG. 3, and the product having the youngest product name (kana) starting with “ka”, that is, the line number 11 is set. The pointer is moved to the product with the product name “or 001”. Then, the products having line numbers 11 to 16 indicated by the pointer are updated to screens corresponding to the load positions 1 to 16, respectively.

In addition, when the page feed button 502f is touched, the control unit 205 as the display control unit responds to the product next to the product currently displayed at the load position 16 (the product in the next order in the data table 206d). Is updated to display 1 at the load position. Further, the screen is updated so that the subsequent 15 products are displayed at the load positions 2-16.
Alternatively, when the page return button 502r is touched, the control unit 205 responds to the 16 products in front of the products currently displayed at the load position 1 (the products in the order before the data table 206d). The screen is updated so that the load positions 1 to 16 are sequentially displayed.

  When the control unit 205 outputs the display data relating to the products 1 to 16 at the loading position to the display device 103, it is necessary to copy the display data from the product image file 206c to the display buffer 206g. It may take a period of time to recognize the process. In that case, the control unit 205 does not accept the operation of the touch panel and displays the screen in a different manner by blurring the entire screen as shown in FIG. 6C. As a result, it is possible to prevent a matter to be newly processed by operating the screen during a period in which the display data of the new product is read at the loading positions 1 to 16 and the screen is updated.

When the index 501 of the display device 103 is operated, the control unit 205 determines the selected character based on the detection signal of the touch panel. Then, the line number of the youngest product is acquired from the data table 206d in FIG. 3 among the products having the selected index character or the subsequent characters as the first character of the product name as the search heading. Sixteen products are sequentially displayed in the display frames 1 to 16 at the load position from the products of the acquired row numbers.
For example, a case where the character “ta” in the index 501 is selected will be described (see FIG. 6B). In that case, the control unit 205 as a display control unit refers to the data table 206d, and among the products having “ta” as the first character of “product name (kana)”, the first product is set as a display frame at the load position 1. Display. Furthermore, 16 products are displayed in order from the products in the display frames 2 to 16 at the load position (see FIG. 6D). However, the screen is blurred and displayed until the processing for updating the screen is completed (see FIG. 6C). The process of blurring and displaying the screen may be performed by applying an image filter (for example, a known Gaussian filter) to the display data.

When the process of updating the display of the search screen of the display device 103 is completed, the control unit 205 as a display control unit further generates search screen display data corresponding to one or more pages before and after the search screen being displayed. That is, display data is generated for each product corresponding to one or more pages before and after each product being displayed, and stored in the display buffer 206g.
For example, when the page feed button 502f is pressed on the search screen of the display device 103, the product corresponding to the next page is displayed on the load positions 1 to 16 using display data stored in the display buffer 206g in advance. Update the screen display to make it happen.
When the update of the display on the screen is completed, the display data not yet generated among the display data of the products corresponding to one or more pages before and after that is generated and stored in the display buffer 206g.

≪Processing of display control unit≫
A procedure of processing executed by the signage management apparatus 102 control unit 205 will be described.
7A to 7D are flowcharts showing the flow of processing executed by the control unit 205 as the table generation unit and the display control unit in this embodiment. Processing of the display control unit will be described along the flowcharts of FIGS. 7A to 7D.
When the signage management device 102 is powered on, the control unit 205 downloads from the sales management device 101 all or some items of each product stored in the product master 202a and a product image 202b of each product. Then, the downloaded item of the product master 202a and the product image 202b are stored in the data storage unit 206 as product data 206a (step s900 in FIG. 7A).

Then, the control unit 205 as a table generation unit sorts all or some items of the downloaded product master 206b by “product name (kana)” to create a data table 206d (see FIG. 3) (s901).
After generating the data table 206d, the control unit 205 initializes the pointer variable y (initial value is 1) (s902). Here, the pointer y indicates one of the load positions (the number of display items, in this embodiment, 1 to 16 of the load position) of products that can be displayed on one screen. At the same time, the line number referring to the data table 206d is indicated.

Then, the following loop processing is performed until the pointer y reaches the maximum value (16 in this embodiment) (s903). That is, after the initialization, a process for displaying the products having line numbers 1 to 16 on the load positions 1 to 16 is performed.
First, the data of the product image file 206c corresponding to the product of the line number indicated by the pointer y (y = 1 immediately after initialization) is stored in the display buffer 206g (s904).
Then, the control unit 205 outputs the display data to the display device 103 via the input / output unit 207 in order to display the image data stored in step s905 at the load position (load position y) pointed to by the pointer y (s905). .

When the display data is output to the load position y, the item of the line number y in the load management table 206e is changed to “Done”. Further, the value of the pointer y (y = 1 immediately after initialization) is added to the buffer management table 206f (s906). Then, the value of the pointer y is increased by 1 (s907).
Here, the control unit prevents the input / output unit 207 as the operation detection unit from accepting an operation on the screen while the screen is being updated, and displays the screen in order for the user to visually recognize the state. Control is performed so that the image is blurred (s908).

Then, the routine returns to the loop processing determination of step s903 described above, and the processing from steps s903 to s908 described above is repeated 16 times until the value of the pointer y reaches y = 1 to y = 16, thereby updating the screen.
While the processing is repeated, the screen display is blurred to prevent an unintended operation (s908). In the 16th time, the pointer y = 17 is set in step s907, and the determination of returning to step s903 does not satisfy the condition y <number of display items (= 16) (No in step s903), and the routine proceeds to step s909. That is, when the screen update is completed, the control unit 205 cancels the display blur. The screen displayed here is the standby screen shown in FIGS. 6A and 6D.

  During the display of the standby screen, the control unit 205 reads background product data to be displayed on the previous and subsequent pages from the product image file 206c and starts background parallel processing (step s910 in FIG. 7B). ). The contents that the control unit 205 performs in parallel in the background are shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 8A to 8D. Those processes will be described later, and the description of the foreground process will be continued.

In the foreground, the control unit 205 accepts an operation on the screen by the user while the standby screen is displayed (s911). An operation on the screen is detected by the touch panel of the display device 103, and an input / output unit 207 as an operation detection unit provides a detection signal of the touch panel to the control unit 205.
When the operation detection unit detects the user's operation, the control unit 205 determines which operation has been performed in response (s911). First, it is determined whether or not an end operation has been performed (s912). If an end operation has been performed, the process ends (Yes in s912).
If it is not an end operation (No in s912), it is next determined whether or not the index 501 has been operated (s913).

  When the index 501 is operated (Yes in s913), the control unit 205 determines the character of the index to be operated based on the operation position of the index 501. Then, referring to the data table 206d, the first line number of the product whose character is the initial of “product name (kana)” is acquired. Then, the acquired value is set to the pointer x referring to the data table 206d (s914). For example, when the character “u” in the index 501 is an operation target, “6” is acquired as the head number of the product whose initial character is “u”, and x = 6. Here, the first line number is written because the line number of the product in the youngest order is acquired when a plurality of products whose initial characters are registered are registered. If there is no product whose initial is the character, the first line number of the product whose initial character is the most recent character after that is acquired. Thereafter, the routine proceeds to step s920 shown in FIG. 7C.

On the other hand, if it is not an index operation (No in s913), the control unit 205 determines whether the page feed button 502f or the page return button 502r has been operated. If the swipe operation is recognized as page feed, it may be determined at the same time whether or not the swipe operation has been performed (s915).
If none of the page feed button 502f, the page return button 502r, or the swipe operation (No in s915), the routine returns to Step s911 and waits for an operation by the user.

When any of the page feed button 502f, the page return button 502r, or the swipe operation is performed (Yes in s915), the control unit 205 determines whether the accepted operation is a movement to the next page. That is, it is determined whether or not the page feed button 502f or the right swipe operation is performed (s916).
If the page feed button 502f or the swipe operation to the right (Yes in s916), the value of the pointer x pointing to the data table 206d to display the next page is set to the line corresponding to the display of 1 at the current load position. The number is set to the number obtained by adding the number of display position items = 16. That is, the value of the pointer x in the data table 206d is updated so as to newly display the products in the next order after the products displayed at the current load positions 1 to 16 (s918). Then, the routine proceeds to step s920 in FIG. 7C.

  On the other hand, if the page return button 502r or the swipe operation to the left (No in s916), the value of the pointer x pointing to the data table 206d to display the previous page corresponds to the display of 1 at the current load position. The value obtained by subtracting the number of display position items = 16 from the line number to be used. That is, the value of the pointer x in the data table 206d is updated so that the products in the order in front of the products currently displayed at the load positions 1 to 16 are newly displayed at the load positions 1 to 16 (s919). Then, the routine proceeds to step s920 in FIG. 7C.

In the processing after step s920, the control unit 205 reads the image for the number of display items.
First, a variable y of a pointer indicating the load position is initialized to zero (s920). Then, it is checked whether or not the value of the pointer y is less than the number of display items (= 16) (s921). When the pointer y is in the range of 0 to 15 (corresponding to the load positions 1 to 16), the determination in s921 is Yes and the subsequent loop processing is repeated.
In the above-described s914, s918, or s919, the line number of the product to be displayed at the load position 1 is set to the pointer x. The control unit 205 refers to the load management table 206e and checks whether or not the display data of the product having the line number obtained by adding the pointer x and the pointer y is stored in the display buffer 206g (s922).

When the display data is stored in the display buffer 206g, the item of the corresponding line number in the load management table 206e shown in FIG. 4 is set to the loading state (s923).
Then, the product image file data of the corresponding line number is stored in the display buffer 206g (s924).

At this time, the control unit 205 confirms the contents of the load management table 206e, and checks whether the number of product image file data stored in the display buffer 206g exceeds the capacity that can be stored in the display buffer 206g (s925). .
When display data exceeding the storable number is stored in the display buffer 206g (Yes in s925), the control unit 205 releases the top image data of the load management table 206e from the display buffer 206g. Then, the corresponding line number is also deleted from the buffer management table 206f (s926).

In the load management table 206e, the item corresponding to the line number deleted in s926 is changed to unloaded (s927). Then, the routine proceeds to step s930.
On the other hand, if the display data stored in the display buffer 206g does not exceed the storable number (No in s925), the routine proceeds to step s930 without releasing the buffer because the capacity of the display buffer 206g is sufficient.
In step s930, the control unit 205 waits for the storage of display data in the display buffer 206g to be completed, and changes the item of the corresponding line number in the load management table 206e shown in FIG. 4 from being loaded to loaded. Further, the corresponding line number is added to the buffer management table 206f shown in FIG.

On the other hand, if the image file data of the corresponding line number is not stored (loaded) in the display buffer in the processing of s922 (No in step s922), is the product image file data of the corresponding line number being loaded into the display buffer 206g? It is checked whether or not (s928).
If data is being loaded into the display buffer 206g (Yes in s928), the routine waits for the storage of the data to be completed (s929), and the routine proceeds to step s931.
If data has already been stored in the display buffer 206g (No in s928), the routine proceeds to step s931 without waiting for the storage to be completed.
In step s931, the control unit 205 outputs display data related to the product of the corresponding line number from the display buffer 206g to the screen. The display data load position is the position indicated by the pointer y.

After performing the above processing for the load position indicated by the pointer y, the control unit 205 increments the pointer y by one to indicate the next load position (s932).
During the repetitive process, the process of blurring the screen is performed to make the user recognize that the operation is not accepted (s933). Then, the routine returns to step s921, and the process is repeated for the pointer y between 0 and 15, that is, the load positions 1 to 16.
When the image display of the load positions 1 to 16 is completed (No in step s921), the control unit 205 cancels the blurring process as the update of the screen is completed, and displays the standby screen shown in FIGS. 6A and 6D ( s934).

Then, the control unit 205 starts display data generation processing to be used for the screens of the previous and next pages in the background (s935).
Thereafter, the foreground processing routine returns to step s911 to wait for an operation from the user.

FIG. 8A to FIG. 8D are flowcharts showing the flow of processing that the control unit 205 executes in the background as the table generation unit and the display control unit in this embodiment.
The background process shown in FIGS. 8A to 8D performs the same process as s921 to s927 shown in FIGS. 7A to 7D, and stores the display data of each product used in the previous and subsequent pages in the display buffer 206g. . For easy understanding, the last two digits of the processes corresponding to s921 to s927 of FIGS. 7A to 7D among the processes shown in FIGS. 8A to 8D correspond to the processes of FIGS. 7A to 7D.

In FIG. 8A, the control unit 205 initializes a pointer x pointing to the data table 206d (step s1001). Further, a pointer y indicating the load position is initialized (step s1020). Hereinafter, the processing of s1020 to s1032 in FIGS. 8A and 8B corresponds to the processing of s920 to s932 in FIGS. 7C and 7D. Each of the processes in FIGS. 8A and 8B is a process for storing the display data of one page before the screen being displayed (the page in the order before the data table) in the display buffer 206g.
When the process is completed for the previous page (No in s1021 in FIG. 8A), the routine proceeds to s1101 in FIG. 8C, and performs a process of storing the display data of the subsequent one page in the display buffer. The pointer x is initialized at s1101, and the pointer y is initialized at s1120 (step s1020). Hereinafter, the processing of s1120 to s1132 in FIGS. 8c and 8d corresponds to the processing of s920 to s932 in FIGS. 7C and 7D.
The main difference between the processing of FIGS. 8A to 8D and the processing of FIGS. 7A to 7D is that there is no processing for outputting display data on the screen of the display device 103 and no processing for blurring the screen associated therewith. .

(Embodiment 2)
In this embodiment, another aspect of the operation of selecting a search character using the index 501 will be described.
In the first embodiment, kana characters are displayed in the order of “aiueo” in the index 501, but “a”, “ka”, “sa” are displayed without displaying all the characters of the 50 sounds because of space. “,” “Ta”, “na”,..., Only the first character of each line is displayed. For example, a user who wants to select a product whose “product name (kana)” starts with the characters “e” touches the character portion “a” in the index 501 and starts from the top of the “a” line. 16 items are displayed on the load positions 1 to 16 to search for the target item. If the target product is among the 16 displayed products, it can be selected by touching the product, but if the target product is not displayed, the user touches the page feed button 502f to select the next product. The display is updated on the page, and the target product is searched from the screen. When there are many kinds of goods, operation which selects what has the character at the end of a line in a goods name becomes complicated.

In this embodiment, a mode is described in which a thinned character is displayed and the character can be selected by touching between the characters of the index 501.
FIG. 9A to FIG. 9C are explanatory diagrams showing an example of a product search screen and operations according to this embodiment. In this example, the user selects a product having “e” as an initial of the product name.
As shown in FIG. 9A, when the user touches between the characters “a” and “ka” displayed in the index 501 on the standby search screen, the control unit 205 touches the touch panel via the input / output unit 207. Read the signal. Then, it is recognized that the touch position is between the characters “a” and “ka” displayed in the index 501.

In response to the operation, the control unit 205 uses the letters “A” and “K” that are thinned between the letters “A” and “K” as a balloon (navigation bar 501b). And display in the vicinity between the characters “ka”. In the example of FIG. 9A, when the navigation bar 501b is initially displayed, the cursor is on the character “U” and “U” is selected. This may change depending on which position between the characters “a” and “ka” is touched.
In this embodiment, the user wants to select the character “e”. In that case, the position of the finger touching the screen is slightly shifted to the right. FIG. 9B shows an operation of shifting the touch position with a small arrow. In response to the movement of the touch position, the control unit 205 moves the cursor of the navigation bar 501b to “e” on the right side of “u”. The movement of the cursor is indicated by a large arrow in FIG. 9B.

As a different operation mode, when the user touches the character “e” displayed on the navigation bar 501b while the navigation bar 501b is displayed by touching between the characters “a” and “ka”. In response to the operation, the control unit may recognize the selection of “e”.
When the user's finger is released from the screen while the cursor is on "E", the control unit 205 displays a product in which "E" is the first character of "Product Name (Kana)" in response to the operation. Start updating the screen as much as possible.
In order to cancel the operation of the character once selected, for example, the touching finger is moved to an area outside the index 501 without releasing the screen (see FIG. 9D). In response to the operation, the control unit 205 turns off the display of the navigation bar 501b and does not select a character.

(Embodiment 3)
As the display control unit, the control unit 205 displays each product in such a manner that the user can recognize the stock status of the product when displaying the image of each product in each display frame of the load position 1 to 16. May be. The status of stock is based on information in the product master 206b.
For example, in the case of an out-of-stock product, it is conceivable to display the characters “out of stock” together with the product image, or display the product image density lightly. Alternatively, it may be possible to display a product in stock as a full-color image and display a product out of stock as a monochrome image.
In addition, for products in stock, some of the stock may be displayed with numbers and graphs along with the image of the product so that the user can see the amount of stock. Alternatively, the display frames of each product may be displayed in multiple or single depending on the amount of inventory.

(Embodiment 4)
Although the sales management apparatus 101 and the signage management apparatus 102 are separate bodies in the configurations shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, they may be configured integrally.
Alternatively, the signage management device and the display device may be configured integrally. In that case, the storage unit 202 and the data storage unit 206 may be configured integrally. In that case, the product master 206b may not be stored separately from the product master 202a. Further, the product image file 206c may not be stored separately from the product image 202b.
The configuration shown in FIG. 1 includes one sales management device, a plurality of signage management devices, and a plurality of display devices, but may be a mode in which a plurality of display devices are managed by one signage management device. However, there may be only one display device.

As mentioned above,
(I) The product search digital signage according to the present invention uses product data as an attribute including a product image and a search headline for the product, a product data storage unit for storing a plurality of product data, and the search for each product data. A table generation unit that generates a data table by arranging the headings in a predetermined order; a display unit that displays a product search screen that includes at least the index of the search heading and an image of each product; and the display unit An operation detection unit that accepts an operation on the screen, and display control that displays the index in an intermediate portion in the vertical direction of the screen, and displays images of a plurality of products arranged in the order of the data table in regions above and below the index And the operation detection unit accepts an operation on the displayed index. The display control unit displays the images of the products included in the data table on the screen in the order starting from the index received by the operation detection unit, and updates the screen.

  In this invention, the product search digital signage is a display device that displays still images and moving images related to products based on product data stored in advance, and accepts operations from an unspecified number of people for product search. Is to do. The specific aspect includes, for example, one or more display units with a touch panel, a data storage unit that stores in advance display data relating to products to be displayed on the display device, and an information processing unit that displays the display data on the display device Are each configured as a single body or a separate body. Here, the information processing unit provides functions of the table generation unit and the display control unit. The product data storage unit may be integrated with the information processing unit or may be separate. There may be one or more display units. In the case of having a plurality of display units, a product search screen can be displayed on each display unit to search for products.

The search heading is a character string used as a clue for searching for a product. Here, the character which comprises a character string should just represent the information which concerns on goods by one or more characters regardless of an alphabet, kana, a kanji, a number, and a symbol.
The data table is a data table in which product data of each product is arranged in a predetermined order based on a search heading associated with each product. The predetermined order may be, for example, in alphabetical order or in order, and when the search heading is composed of numerals, it may be in order of increasing or decreasing numerals, and is not particularly limited. Anything can be used as long as the user can see the characters in the index and understand the order, and can use it for the search.

Furthermore, the middle part of the screen on which the index is displayed is a position at which the product image can be displayed on both the upper side and the lower side with the index interposed therebetween. An area for displaying an image of a product and an area above and below the index are not necessarily the same size, and may be different sizes. Therefore, the index position may be above or below the center of the screen.
The operation of selecting a product is an operation performed on the product displayed on the screen. Therefore, in order to select a product that is not displayed on the screen, first, an operation for displaying the product on the screen is required. One example is an operation of searching for a target product using an index and displaying it on a screen. That is, in the present invention, the search is completed by selecting the displayed product after displaying the image of the target product on the screen.

Furthermore, the preferable aspect of this invention is demonstrated.
(Ii) The display control unit may not accept a selection operation for each product while updating the product search screen, and may display an image or a screen of each product in a display mode different from a normal display mode.
In this way, it is possible to prevent the selection operation during the update of the screen for changing the image of each product and the selection of products not intended by the user.
Here, being different from normal means that it is different from a state in which a selection operation for each product is accepted.

(Iii) a display data storage unit for storing display data corresponding to the product search screen; and when the display control unit updates the product search screen, one or more pages before and after the updated screen Display data is generated and stored in the display data storage unit. When a page turning operation or page return operation is accepted, the display data of the previous and subsequent pages stored in the display data storage unit is used. The screen may be updated.
In this way, the display data for the previous and next pages is created in advance when the screen is updated, so that the screen is updated for page feed operations and page return operations compared to the case where the display data for the previous and next pages is not created in advance. Can be done quickly.

(Iv) The product data includes an attribute related to inventory management of each product, and the display control unit displays an image of the product in a display mode representing an inventory status of the product based on the attribute related to the inventory management. You may let them.
In this way, the user can recognize the presence or absence of the searched product and the number of stocks on the product search screen.

(V) The index is a list of headline search characters arranged in a predetermined order and arranged in the left-right direction, and the operation detection unit includes characters as the index. When the operated position is between characters, the display control unit can select a position that is thinned out at that position and not displayed as an index, and can be selected. Also good.
In this way, it is possible to easily search for products using an index in which the characters for headline search are thinned out and arranged in a predetermined order, and quick search is possible by displaying and selecting the thinned characters. become.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention include combinations of any of the plurality of embodiments described above.
In addition to the embodiments described above, there can be various modifications of the present invention. These modifications should not be construed as not belonging to the scope of the present invention. The present invention should include the meaning equivalent to the scope of the claims and all modifications within the scope.

100: digital signage, 101: sales management device, 102, 104, 106: signage management device, 103, 105, 107: display device 201: sales processing unit, 202: storage unit, 202a, 206b: product master, 202b: product Images 203, 204: Communication interface unit 205: Control unit 206: Data storage unit 206a: Product data 206c: Product image file 206d: Data table 206e: Load management table 206f: Buffer management table 206g : Display buffer, 207: Input / output unit 501: Index, 501b: Navigation bar, 502f: Page feed button, 502r: Page back button, 503: Product display area

Claims (5)

A product data storage unit for storing a plurality of product data, with an attribute including a product image and a search headline for the product as product data;
A table generating unit that generates a data table by arranging each product data in a predetermined order for the search headline;
A display unit for displaying a product search screen including at least an index of the search heading and an image of each product;
An operation detection unit that receives an operation on the screen of the display unit;
A display control unit that displays the index in an intermediate part in the vertical direction of the screen, and displays an image of a plurality of products arranged in the order of the data table in regions above and below the index;
When the operation detection unit receives an operation on the displayed index, the display control unit displays the images of the products included in the data table on the screen in order starting from the index received by the operation detection unit, and updates the screen. Digital signage for product search.   The digital signage according to claim 1, wherein the display control unit does not accept a selection operation for each product while updating a product search screen, and displays an image or a screen of each product in a display mode different from a normal display mode. A display data storage unit for storing display data corresponding to the product search screen;
When updating the product search screen, the display control unit generates display data of one or more pages before and after the updated screen and stores the display data in the display data storage unit, The digital signage according to claim 1 or 2, wherein when a page return operation is accepted, the screen is updated using display data of previous and subsequent pages stored in the display data storage unit. The product data includes attributes related to inventory management of each product,
The digital signage according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the display control unit displays an image of a product in a display mode that represents an inventory status of the product based on the attribute relating to the inventory management. The index is a list of characters for headline search arranged in a predetermined order and thinned out in the left-right direction.
The operation detection unit detects an operation for which position a character is arranged as the index,
5. The display control unit according to claim 1, wherein when the operated position is between characters, the display controller can display and select a character that is thinned out at that position and is not displayed as an index. Digital signage as described.