JP2559025Y2 - Product display shelves - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a merchandise display shelf for displaying merchandise, and more particularly to a merchandise display shelf having a function of automatically detecting the presence or absence of an article placed on a shelf.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, the management of products placed on display shelves installed in retail stores or the like is performed by dispatching an investigator of a manufacturer that manufactures these products to each retail store, and merchandise of the manufacturer is
This is performed by periodically checking whether or not the product is placed at a predetermined position on a product display shelf installed in a retail store. Then, as a result of the survey, if the product is not placed at a predetermined position, the researcher of the maker requests the retail store to replenish or display the product.

On the other hand, as a conventional technique relating to the management of this kind of product, for example, a technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-144792 is known. In this conventional technique, an identification mark unique to a product is read by a sensor or the like, and compared with an identification mark set in advance in a control unit, the product can be replenished only when it matches.

[0004]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The above-mentioned management of products by the researcher is intended for retailers nationwide because the researcher of the maker is dispatched to each retail store to investigate the display condition of the product. In this case, there is a problem that the survey cost becomes enormous and an accurate survey cannot be conducted due to a mistake of the investigator. In addition, the management of products by the researcher may not be able to accurately grasp the display status when the product is redisplayed at the retail store before the manufacturer's researcher conducts the survey, and the researcher may make mistakes. The problem is that the report may be made.

The prior art described in the above-mentioned publication can prevent a vending machine or the like from being erroneously refilled with a different product, but is placed on a product display shelf installed in an ordinary retail store. There is a problem that the management of the products is not considered, and the products displayed on the product display shelf cannot be managed.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and to determine whether or not a predetermined product is present on a product display shelf installed in a retail store or the like, and to determine whether a predetermined product is present at a predetermined position on the product display shelf. An object of the present invention is to provide a product display shelf that can detect whether or not a product is placed for each type.

[0007]

According to the present invention, an object of the present invention is to provide a tag having a resonance circuit that resonates with electromagnetic waves of different frequencies for each type of product provided in a product case containing the same type of product. Transmitting means for transmitting electromagnetic waves of a specific frequency at predetermined timings to a plurality of types of tags having different resonance frequencies for each type of product,
This is achieved by including receiving means for reading reflected waves reflected from the plurality of types of tags, and means for detecting the presence or absence of the case based on the reflected waves received by the receiving means.

[0008]

According to the present invention, since the transmitting means emits an electromagnetic wave and reads the reflected wave reflected from a tag provided in accordance with the type of the product, if the product is other than metal, the product may be stacked. Also, since the electromagnetic waves pass between the products, the presence or absence of the products can be easily managed. Further, since the electromagnetic wave emitted from the transmission means is a frequency determined in advance for each type of product, the tag attached to the product is configured to resonate at a predetermined frequency corresponding to the product, It is possible to manage the presence or absence of the product for each type of product.

[0009]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a merchandise display shelf according to the present invention;

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a product display shelf according to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the structure of a tag seal. . 1 to 3, reference numeral 100 denotes a product case;
Is a product, 102 is a tag seal, 103 is an antenna unit, 1
04 is a controller, 105 is a display shelf, 106 is a shelf,
201 is a transmitting antenna, 202 is a receiving antenna, 203
Is a transmission unit, 204 and 209 are high-frequency amplification units,
08 is a PLL transmission unit, 206 is a reception unit, 207 is a frequency mixing unit, 210 is a detection / shaping unit, 211 is a control unit, 212 is an identification unit, 213 is an external device, 302 is a coil, and 303 is a capacitor.

An article display shelf 15 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of shelves 106 are provided, and a product case 100 for storing the product 101 is placed on each shelf 106. An antenna unit 103 is provided correspondingly. In the product case 100, the same type of product 1
01 is stored, and a tag seal 102 having a resonance frequency unique to the product is affixed. The product display shelf 105 is provided with a controller 104 for controlling the management of the product in the product display shelf according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the controller 104 includes a PLL transmitting section 205, a transmitting section 203 having a high frequency amplifying section 204, a PLL transmitting section 208, and a frequency mixing section 2.
07, a high-frequency amplification unit 209, a reception unit 206 having a detection / shaping unit 210, and a control unit for controlling these. Then, the transmitting unit 203 and the receiving unit 20
6 is connected to the antenna unit 103 having the transmitting antenna 201 and the receiving antenna 202, and the transmitting unit 206 is connected to the identification unit 212 and the external device 213.

As shown in FIG. 3, the tag seal 102
The coil 302 and the capacitor 303 are formed by printing an electric conductor paste on a sheet-shaped insulator. As the conductor paste, for example, silver palladium or the like is used.
3 is formed. In the tag seal 102, the inductance of the coil 302 and the capacitance of the capacitor 303 can be arbitrarily determined according to the printing method of the electric conductor paste, and the resonance frequency can be arbitrarily set.

The tag sheet 102 thus configured is configured to have a different resonance frequency for each product to be displayed, and the tag sheets 102 are attached to the product case 100.

Next, referring to FIG. 2, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described.

The control section 211 controls the high-frequency amplification section 204 and the PLL oscillation section 205 of the transmission section 203,
Electromagnetic waves having a frequency equal to the resonance frequency of the tag sheet 102 corresponding to each product to be displayed on the product display shelf 15 are sequentially transmitted to the transmitting antenna 201 at a predetermined timing while changing the frequency. This transmitting antenna 201
1 constitutes the antenna unit 103 shown in FIG. 1. In this example, the transmitting antennas of all the antenna units 103 shown in FIG. 1 are connected in series or in parallel.

As a result, the electromagnetic wave from the transmitting unit 203
It is radiated from all the antenna units 13 of the product display shelf 15 shown in FIG. The tag sheet 1 attached to the product case 100 placed on the antenna section 13
02 reflects the electromagnetic wave when the frequency of the electromagnetic wave from the antenna unit 103 changes and becomes the resonance frequency of the own tag sheet 102.

The reflected electromagnetic wave is transmitted to the receiving antenna 2
02. This receiving antenna constitutes the antenna unit 103 shown in FIG. 1 as in the case of the above-described transmitting antenna 201. In this example, the receiving antennas of all the antenna units 103 of FIG. 1 are connected in series or in parallel. It was done.

The reflected wave received by receiving antenna 202 is converted to an intermediate frequency by frequency mixing section 207 of receiving section 206 and amplified by high frequency amplifying section 209. The detection / shaping unit 210 integrates each of the reflected signal and the noise signal from the tag sheet 102 based on the signal sent from the high-frequency amplification unit 209 and passes the integrated signal to the identification unit 212 as one data. Based on the result, the identification unit 212 identifies which product in the product display shelf 15 has been reflected from the tag sheet 12 based on the frequency of the reflected electromagnetic wave, and stores the product in the product display shelf 15. Identify what products are being displayed. The result of this identification is
It is output to an external device 213 such as a terminal. Thereby, it is possible to identify whether or not there is a product to be displayed on the display shelf.

In the above-described embodiment of the present invention, the antenna units 103 provided on the product display shelf 105 shown in FIG. 1 are all integrated to correspond to each of the products to be displayed on the display shelf 105. Since electromagnetic waves of a plurality of frequencies are sequentially transmitted at a predetermined timing and a reflected wave corresponding to an existing product is detected, the product present on the product display shelf 105 can be identified. However, in this case, it is unknown which product is placed on which position on the display shelf 105.

According to the present invention, it is possible to identify which product is placed on which position on the display shelf 105. In this case, the antenna section 103 shown in FIG. 1 is separated for each individual position. A switching switch is provided between the transmitting unit 203 and the transmitting antenna 201 shown in FIG. 2, and a switching switch is provided between the receiving unit 206 and the receiving antenna 202. These switches enable the antenna unit 103 shown in FIG. One of the antenna units 1
As in the case described above, electromagnetic waves of a plurality of frequencies corresponding to each of the products to be displayed on the display shelf 105 are sequentially transmitted, and the reflected waves corresponding to the existing products are detected. What should I do?

In the embodiment of the present invention described above, the product display shelf 1
05, the presence or absence of the product detected is output to the external device 213 to manage the product.
For example, merchandise display shelves placed at each retail store can be connected by a communication line, and merchandise management can be performed collectively at a terminal of the center.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is determined whether or not a predetermined product is present on a product display shelf, and whether or not the predetermined product is placed at a predetermined position in the product display shelf. Can be easily investigated for each type.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a product display shelf according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a structure of a tag seal.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 product case 101 product 102 tag seal 103 antenna unit 104 controller 105 display shelf 106 shelf 201 transmitting antenna 202 receiving antenna 203 transmitting unit 204, 209 high frequency amplifying unit 205, 208 PLL transmitting unit 206 receiving unit 207 frequency mixing unit 210 detection / shaping Unit 211 control unit 212 identification unit 213 external device 302 coil 303 capacitor

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Shigeaki Akamatsu 1-16-5 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside Hitachi Information Systems Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-2-287591 (JP, A) Sho 62-201867 (JP, U) Shokai Sho 62-1223769 (JP, U) Shohei 5-54408 (JP, U)

Claims (2)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A merchandise display shelf on which a merchandise case for identifying and managing the presence or absence of a displayed merchandise is placed, the electromagnetic wave having a different frequency for each type of the merchandise attached to the merchandise case storing the merchandise. A tag having a resonant circuit that resonates, a transmitting unit that transmits an electromagnetic wave of a specific frequency at a predetermined timing to each of the plurality of types of tags, and a receiving unit that reads reflected waves reflected from the plurality of types of tags, Means for detecting the presence or absence of the product case based on the reflected wave received by the receiving means. 2. An antenna connected to the transmitting means and the receiving means is provided at a position of a shelf on which the product case is placed, and detects presence / absence of the product case together with a position of a product display shelf. Item 1 is a product display shelf.