JPH08103352A - System for guiding customer to product display stand - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To enable to smooth a shopping procedure in the shop so as to prevent confusion and to eliminate an opportunity loss that a customer can not find a desired product when customers make purchases in retail stores, department stores, etc. CONSTITUTION: When a customer inputs an information about a product which he wants to buy with a handy terminal 1, a shop information processing device 4 connected to the handy terminal 1 informs the handy terminal 1 of a display stand 6 on which a specified product displayed and a route from the customer to the display stand 6.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing system of a store that displays various products, and more particularly to a system that guides a display place of products to be purchased.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a large-scale mass store or a department store that handles a large number of products, when searching for a product, the user may look for the product while looking at the memo paper of the product he or she wants to buy.
There were many cases of going in and out of the store. Conventionally, as a method of avoiding store congestion, from the viewpoint of shortening the settlement at the POS terminal, JP-A-2-309494 and JP-A-4
No. 293198, each time a customer places it in a basket in an electronic cart, the product is scanned, and the registered contents are sent to a host computer by radio, and the POS is issued from there.
There is a method of transmitting the data to a terminal to facilitate the checkout work at the POS terminal. Furthermore, JP-A-61-12
There is one related to operation control of a trolley in a supermarket as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 501.

[0003]

The above-mentioned electronic cart has a problem that the electronic cart itself becomes expensive because the customer himself / herself scans the merchandise and the scanning function and the wireless function are provided.

In the above-mentioned trolley control, since the customer himself / herself designates the destination, it is possible to optimize the route selection of a plurality of trolleys at that time. As a whole, customers and trolleys go round and round. Further, since the trolley itself is equipped with an automatic control function, there is a problem that it becomes expensive.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems as follows.

(1) To smooth the flow of shoppers in the store and prevent congestion.

(2) For the store side, there is no opportunity loss when the customer cannot find the product.

(3) On the store side, the number of man-hours required for customer service when a customer cannot find a product is reduced.

[0009]

According to the present invention, a product category such as a large category or a small category of a product is stored in association with a corresponding display location, and when a specific product category is received from a terminal device, The present invention is characterized by a system that guides a display location of a product such that a display location corresponding to a specific product category is displayed as, for example, a guide map that emphasizes a target display location.

[0010]

[Function] By using the above-mentioned terminal device as a portable terminal, the shopper inputs information about the product he / she wants to purchase at home in advance, brings this portable terminal to the store, and makes an inquiry to the information processing device to make a purchaser Can obtain a guide map showing the display location of the target product on the display device or printer of the portable terminal. In particular, if you enable wireless communication between the portable terminal and the information processing device, the information processing device can detect the position of the portable terminal at the opportunity of inquiry from the portable terminal. A route from the shopper's location to the desired product display location can be illustrated.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a system which is an embodiment of the present invention. In the store, an antenna 2 for transmitting / receiving data from the wireless handy terminal 1 and the electronic shelf label 7 is arranged at an appropriate position. A transmitting / receiving device 3 is correspondingly connected to the antenna 2. The transmission / reception device 3 is connected to the store information processing device 4 via a transmission line such as a bus line. A merchandise information database 5 is connected to the store information processing device 4, and the database can be accessed. The wireless handy terminal 1 and the electronic shelf label 7 each have a physical address on the line and can operate as one terminal on the line. On the wireless handy terminal 1, an antenna 104 for transmitting / receiving data to / from the store information processing device 4, a keyboard 101 for inputting product information, and a response data from the store information processing device 4 are displayed. It is equipped with a display 102 and a printer 103 for printing reply data. The electronic shelf label 7 is a device that is installed in each product display location 6 and that electronically sets and displays the shelf position of the product, and is generally known by the name of the electronic shelf label. The electronic shelf label 7 is provided with a keyboard for inputting a product name, the input product name and position information of the shelf on which the product is displayed are stored in association with each other, and both are displayed in association with each other. When the shelf position is changed due to the rearrangement of the product, the changed content is transmitted to the store information processing device 4. It is possible to provide a barcode reader instead of the keyboard for inputting the product name, read the barcode attached to the product, and convert the product code into the product name.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the data format of the product information database 5. In the product information database 5, information about product classifications such as large and small product classifications and information about display locations are stored as one record in association with each other. Large categories include large items such as vegetables and dry matter,
The sub-category stores detailed items corresponding to product names such as spinach and carrot, and the place where the product is displayed, for example, floor and shelf position, is stored in the display place. Here, the commodities belonging to the large category are concentrated in one place or some nearby display places. That is, the display places of the goods belonging to the large classification are aggregated into one display place or within the range of several adjacent display places.

When the product name and the shelf position are sent from the electronic shelf label 7, the store information processing device 4 detects the floor where the display place is located from the position of the antenna 2 which receives the information, and receives it. Using the product name as a key, a subcategory item in the product information database 5 is searched, and the shelf position of the display location of the corresponding record is changed.

From the wireless handy terminal 1 to the antenna 1
When the product information designating the large classification or the small classification of the products is sent via 04, the antenna 2 and the transmission / reception device 3, the store information processing device 4 uses the product information as a key or the large classification of the product information database 5 or Search for subcategory items. When searching for large or small categories of product information, there are cases in which the search fails due to differences in product names such as katakana, hiragana, or feed, but the target range is limited to the product information handled by that store. Therefore, it is possible to improve by using a well-known inference technique.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the respective processes and information transfer methods for the wireless handy terminal 1 and the store information processing device 4 when a shopper enters a store and shop. The shopper inputs the product information of the product to be purchased from the keyboard 101 of the wireless handy terminal 1. The product information specifies either the large classification, the small classification, or both. The wireless handy terminal 1 makes an inquiry to the store information processing device 4 via the antenna 104, the antenna 2, and the transmission / reception device 3. At this time, as an inquiry method, an inquiry about only one product,
Inquiries about multiple products or inquiries that specify only major categories are possible. In any case, the store information processing device 4 responds to the wireless handy terminal 1 with the display location corresponding to the designated product or product classification. Further, the store information processing device 4 responds when the shopper gives an instruction from the wireless handy terminal or automatically reaches a display place of the corresponding product or an optimum route for traveling while buying a plurality of products. To do. The store information processing device 4 that has received the inquiry message searches the product information database 5 using the product information as a key. The position of the shopper, that is, the wireless handy terminal 1 is detected by the received antenna 2. Information about the displayed display location and the detected shopper's position is returned to the wireless handy terminal 1. Further, the store information processing device 4 may determine an optimal shopping route from the position of the shopper to the target display location and send it to the wireless handy terminal 1. The wireless handy terminal 1 displays and prints the received data on the display 102 and the printer 103, respectively. At this time, it is easy to see if the display location and the optimum route in the store are displayed or printed in the form of a guide map with an image.

Next, when a product is purchased while walking in the store, a mark indicating that the product information of the purchased product has been purchased is input from the keyboard 101 among the product information displayed on the display 102. Also, when a product to be added is generated, product information is similarly input from the keyboard 101 and added to the product information already input. If an inquiry is made at this point, the store information processing device 4 displays the product information marked with the shopping mark, the added product information, and the display position of the product excluding the purchased product from the current position of the shopper and the display position thereof. Find the optimum route to reach and reply to the wireless handy terminal 1. Instead of making an inquiry every time the operation is performed from the wireless handy terminal 1, an inquiry is automatically made every time the customer moves, and the customer can be guided in real time. That is, the store information processing device 4 stores the terminal identifier of the wireless handy terminal 1 once there is an inquiry from the wireless handy terminal 1, and polls at a fixed cycle to check the position of the wireless handy terminal 1 (the position of the shopper). ) Is detected,
The latest purchase route according to the position of the shopper can be displayed on the display 102.

The method for determining the optimum shopping route is realized by applying the method for determining the shortest route which is already known in the automatic wiring of electronic computers. As an example, as shown in FIG. 4, a route that goes around all the display places is determined in advance. In FIG. 4, C indicates the position of the shopper. If the information on the display location of the product and the information indicating the position of the shopper are coded so that they are in the order of this route, by adding the position information of the shopper to the product information inquired by the shopper, sorting can be performed. It is possible to determine an optimum route along a predetermined route. However, if there is only one display place for shopping, the shortest route to the target display place should be selected while keeping the predetermined route as much as possible, and the route along the predetermined route is omitted. Will be. In any case, minimizing a route traveling in the direction opposite to the direction of the predetermined route and selecting the shortest route along the predetermined route can be realized by applying a known technique.

As an input method from the wireless handy terminal 1, the keyboard 101 is used in this embodiment, but other input means such as a bar code reader can be used. If the wireless handy terminal 1 is equipped with a bar code reader, the product code can be input in advance at home when the shopper continues to purchase the products already purchased. Moreover, you may input product information by handwriting by providing an electronic pen. Further, instead of inputting the mark indicating that the product has been purchased in the above embodiment, the display 102 has a touch panel system, and the product name of the purchased product in the list of product names desired to be purchased is touched with a finger to instruct. Good. The product code may be used in place of the product name in the above embodiment. The electronic shelf label 7 also provides information that associates the product name with the shelf position.
Without input from the store information processing device 4 to the electronic shelf label 7
May be downloaded to. In this case, the same information is maintained in the store information processing device 4. Further, in the above embodiment, the electronic shelf label 7 is provided, and when the display location of the product is changed, the change contents are sent to the store information processing device 4 and the product information database 5 is updated, but the electronic shelf label 7 is not provided, You may update the content of the goods information database 5 via the input means connected to the store information processing apparatus 4.

[0020]

The following effects can be obtained by the present invention.

(1) Smooth the flow of shoppers in the store to prevent congestion.

(2) For the store side, eliminate the opportunity loss when the customer cannot find the product.

(3) For the store side, the number of man-hours required for customer service when the customer cannot find a product is reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a data format of a database of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a flow of processing according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a route around a display place.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Wireless handy terminal, 101 ... Keyboard, 102 ... Display, 104 ... Antenna, 2 ... Antenna, 4 ... Store information processing device, 5
... Product information database, 6 ... Product display location,
7 ... Electronic shelf label

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Takafumi Morimoto, Inventor Takafumi Morimoto, 890, Kashimada, Sachiku-ku, Kanagawa 12 Hitachi Information Systems Division (72) Inventor, Takayuki Ishii, 890, Kashimada, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa 12 Information Systems Division, Hitachi, Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A means for storing information relating to the classification of goods and information relating to the place where the goods are displayed in association with each other, and searching the storage means when specific information concerning the classification of goods is input. A system for guiding a product display place, comprising means for reading the corresponding display place and means for displaying the display place corresponding to the product classification. 2. A storage device for storing information relating to product categories and information relating to places where the products are displayed in association with each other, a terminal device for wirelessly transmitting specific information relating to product categories, and the terminal. The terminal having means for detecting the position of the device, reading the storage device, reading the display place corresponding to the received product category, and guiding the information from the position of the terminal device to the read display place. A system for guiding a product display place, comprising: an information processing device for transmitting to a device.