KR20120080993A - Method for controlling terminal device and terminal device thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method for controlling a mobile terminal is provided to store basic information in the mobile terminal in advance and transmit small size variable information in real time. CONSTITUTION: A control unit initiates the terminal by using basic information about a display content(S11). The control unit obtains variable information about the displayed content(S12). The control unit displays the displayed content using the basic information and the variable information(S13). The control unit detects some changes form the variable information(S16). The control unit updates the displayed content of the mobile terminal.

Description

Terminal control method and terminal for the same {METHOD FOR CONTROLLING TERMINAL DEVICE AND TERMINAL DEVICE THEREOF}

The present invention relates to a terminal including a display, for example, a method of controlling an electronic price display device and an electronic price display device thereof. In particular, a terminal control method for receiving and initializing basic information almost without change without receiving and displaying all information on an electronic price display device in advance, receiving only variable information in real time, and updating a display content, and a terminal related thereto will be.

Recently, stores such as hypermarkets use electric shelf labels to display price information. Electronic shelf label is a system that displays information such as real-time price information, price per unit, barcode, etc. of tens of thousands of products displayed in a large mart or convenience store on an electronic label of a display stand. In Europe, the use of such electronic shelf labels is common, but most domestic retail stores still use paper price tags instead of electronic labels. In the coming years, however, electronic shelf labels will replace paper price tags.

The electronic shelf label periodically sends an alive signal to the server so that the server can check the status of each electronic shelf label.

On the other hand, in the case of a general store, when the business hours are over, the entire store is turned off. The electronic shelf label uses a built-in battery without an external power supply, and conventionally, even when the business hours expire, the alive signal transmission continues to consume the battery. Electronic shelf labels can be used for two to three years with a single battery installed, so it's also a good idea to reduce trace battery consumption.

In addition, a large amount of data such as an image may be transmitted to a tag and a client device in a Ubiquitous Sensor Network (USN) and a wired / wireless network environment as well as an ESL system. However, large data transmission not only increases power consumption, but also takes a long time to transmit large amounts of data to all of a plurality of devices in an entire system composed of a plurality of tags or client devices.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention transmits and stores basic information such as a standardized framework of display contents to a terminal, a tag, or a client device that receives data in advance, and then transmits only the small capacity variable information in real time. It is possible to reduce the power consumption of the terminal receiving the data.

The present invention saves and initializes basic information in each device in advance, and transmits only variable information in a batch, under a system consisting of a plurality of terminals, tags, or client devices, thereby shortening the data transmission time and shortening the synchronization time of the system. . As a result, power consumption of the terminal or the tag may be reduced.

A control method of a terminal including a display according to the present invention includes the steps of: initializing a terminal using basic information about display contents of the terminal; Obtaining variable information about display contents of the terminal; Displaying display contents of a terminal using the basic information and variable information; Detecting a change in at least a portion of the variable information; And updating the display contents of the terminal according to the change of the variable information.

A terminal including a display according to the present invention includes a memory for storing basic information about the display contents of the terminal; A controller for initializing the terminal using the basic information; A communication module for obtaining variable information about display contents of a terminal; A display unit which displays the display contents of the terminal using the basic information and the variable information; The communication module detects a change in at least a part of the variable information, and the controller updates the display content of the terminal according to the change of the variable information.

According to the present invention, the basic information is transmitted to the terminal in advance and stored, and only the variable information having small capacity is transmitted in real time, thereby reducing power consumption of the terminal receiving the data.

In addition, according to the present invention it is possible to reduce the data transmission time to shorten the synchronization time of the system. As a result, power consumption of the terminal or the tag may be reduced.

1A and 1B show a system configuration for executing a terminal control method according to the present invention.
2A and 2B show examples of display contents displayed on the terminal.
3 is a flowchart illustrating a terminal control method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a block diagram of a configuration of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, with reference to the drawings will be described the present invention in more detail.

The suffix "module" and " part "for components used in the following description are given merely for ease of description, and the" module "and" part "

Meanwhile, the terminal described herein may be any device including a wireless communication module or a display. In addition, as an intelligent device that adds a computer support function to, for example, a network transmission / reception function, an Internet function or the like may be added to provide a more convenient interface such as a handwritten input device, a touch screen, or a spatial remote controller. In addition, it is connected to the Internet and a computer with the support of a wired or wireless Internet function, and can perform functions such as e-mail, web browsing, banking, or gaming. A standardized general-purpose OS can be used for these various functions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG.

The terminology used herein is a general term that has been widely used as far as possible in consideration of functions in the present invention, but may vary according to the intention or custom of a person skilled in the art or the emergence of a new technology. In addition, in certain cases, there is a term arbitrarily selected by the applicant, and in this case, the meaning will be described in the corresponding description of the invention. Therefore, it is to be understood that the terminology used herein is to be interpreted based on the actual meaning of the term and the contents throughout the specification, rather than simply on the name of the term.

1A and 1B show a system configuration for executing a terminal control method according to the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1A, a system according to the present invention may include at least one terminal 20 and a server 10.

The terminal 20 may be an ESL terminal mounted on a shelf of a store such as a large mart or a general store and displaying information of a product such as a price. The terminal 20 may communicate with the server 10.

A console is connected to the server 10, and the store manager may control the server 10 through the console and control the terminal 20 communicating with the server 10.

The store manager transmits information of goods to be displayed on the terminal 20, for example, prices, product images, discount information, barcodes, and the like, to be displayed on the terminal 230 through the server 10.

According to the system illustrated in FIG. 1B, communication between the terminal 20 and the server 10 may be performed via the gateway 30. In FIG. 1B, the server 10 and the terminal 20 are relayed by one gateway 30, but are not limited thereto. The server 10 may control a plurality of gateways, and the terminal 20 may include a plurality of gateways. Communication with the server can be performed by the adjacent gateway 30.

The server 10 and the gateway 30 may be connected by wire or wirelessly, for example, may communicate through Ethernet or Wi-Fi.

The gateway 30 and the terminal 20 may be wirelessly connected, and may be connected by, for example, Zigbee, Wi-Fi, and ultra wide band (UWB) communication.

Each of the terminals 20 has unique identification information (ID), and the server 10 may use the unique ID as an address when communicating with the terminal 20.

The unique ID is set when the store manager first installs the terminal 20 on the shelf of the store. The store manager may assign a unique ID to the terminal 20 using the handheld device and register the same in the server 10.

Once the terminal 20 is registered in the server 10, the store manager may change the image displayed on the terminal 20 through the server 10 and transmit various control commands to control the terminal 20. .

2A illustrates an example of the terminal 20. As illustrated in FIG. 2A, the terminal 20 may display a brand name 22 or price information 23, and the like. It can be changed by (10). In addition, the terminal 20 may display a framework 21. The framework 21 may be basic information about the display content of the terminal according to the present invention. In addition, the framework 21 may include a standard framework as standardized display contents such as an image, a character, a format such as an image size or a character size, or a display position of an image or a character.

The terminal 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention may receive and store basic information such as the framework 21 from the server 10 and initialize the terminal to default. The terminal 20 may periodically obtain variable information such as a brand name 22 and price information 23 to update the display contents of the terminal in real time.

2B illustrates another example of the terminal 20. Referring to FIG. 2B, the terminal 20 may also display an image 24 of a product in addition to the brand name 22 or the price information 23. The image or information to be displayed may be changed by the server 10. In addition, the terminal 20 may display a framework 21 as basic information.

In this case, the product name 22, the price information 23, or the image 24 of the product may be variable information. The terminal 20 may detect a change of the variable information and update the display content of the terminal according to the change of the variable information. For example, when the image 24 of the product and the product name 22 are maintained, and only the product price information 23 is changed, that is, when some of the variable information is changed, only the changed part of the variable information is detected to display the display contents of the terminal. Can be updated. Accordingly, even if a large amount of image information is received as variable information, only the variable information that is changed while there is no change of the variable information can be detected and the display content can be updated.

In addition to the basic information or variable information illustrated in FIGS. 2A and 2B, on the terminal according to the present invention, an object other than a product, for example, a service, an advertisement, or the like is displayed as an object related to display contents to be displayed on the terminal. can do.

In addition, the basic information according to the present invention may include basic image information provided by the terminal, for example, an icon of a store, in addition to the framework of the display content of the terminal.

In addition, the variable information according to the present invention may include, for example, a product name as a name of an object related to the display contents of the terminal 20. The variable information according to the present invention may include at least one of a product price, a product name, a product icon, a thumbnail image, a number, and barcode information as attribute information of a target.

In addition, the variable information according to the present invention may be configured in a text format so that the variable information in the text format may be sequentially output on the display of the terminal 20 based on basic information such as a framework.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a terminal control method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In step S11, the terminal is initialized using basic information about the display contents of the terminal. Initialization of the terminal may be performed by obtaining basic information previously stored in the terminal. The terminal may receive and store the basic information from the server 10 and initialize and initialize the terminal by extracting and acquiring the stored basic information when the power is turned on or the terminal is activated. If there is no basic information already stored or changed, the basic information can be received and initialized through the network.

In step S12, variable information is obtained from the server 10. Variable information may be periodically received from the server 10.

In step S13, the display content of the terminal is displayed using the basic information and the variable information.

In step S14, the server is connected. Alternatively, the server can be connected to by receiving a signal transmitted from the server.

In step S15, a change of the basic information is detected. If you want to change the basic information, such as the framework by the setting of the store manager, the store manager may select to change the basic information on the server (10). If the basic information is changed, the display content of the terminal is displayed according to the changed information (step S13).

In step S16, a change in the variable information is detected. The change of the variable information can be detected by receiving the variable information transmitted from the server and comparing the variable information with the variable information being displayed.

For example, in the case of variable information including a plurality of parameters such as a product name, a product price, a product icon, and the like, at least a part of the variable information can be detected. The terminal may determine whether the parameters are different by comparing each of the plurality of parameters with a value of the previously displayed variable information. For example, when only a product price among a product name, a product price, and a product icon is changed, it may be determined that a part of the variable information is changed. If it is determined that the variable information has been changed, the display content of the terminal may be updated according to the changed value of the variable information (step S13).

In step S17, if no change of either the basic information or the variable information is detected, the display contents are retained.

On the other hand, the reception of basic information or variable information may be changed periodically or by setting or upon occurrence of an event.

As described above, according to the present invention, if more than 2000 tags (terminals) are connected by one gateway, the time for synchronizing them all may be shortened to 3 to 5 minutes from 30 minutes to 1 hour.

For example, in the case of tags (terminals) of the simulated product, it is common to repeat active and sleep every 5 minutes, and in some cases, repeating every 15 minutes may be possible to synchronize faster than before. Therefore, the power consumption according to this can be reduced by as much as 1/3 times.

4 is a block diagram of a configuration of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 4, the terminal 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention receives basic information or variable information to be displayed from the server 10 and periodically changes the basic information or variable information to the server 10. Communication module 32 for receiving the received information, a display 38 for displaying the received information, a memory 34 for storing the received basic information and variable information, a power supply 40 for supplying power, and basic information. The controller 20 may be configured to initialize the terminal 20 and obtain variable information so as to control data display and display contents of the terminal.

The communication module 32 may be a Zigbee communication module, a Wi-Fi communication module, or a UWB communication module that communicates with the server 10 directly through the gateway 30 and directly with the server 10.

The communication module 32 may receive basic information and variable information from the server 10.

The display 38 may use any display, but is preferably a display that consumes very little power to reduce power consumption and consumes power only when updating the displayed image, such as a Vicetable cholesteric (BCD) display or Electronic ink displays can be used.

The memory 34 stores command codes for controlling the operation of the controller 36 and also stores data received from the server 10. The memory 34 may use any storage device such as a flash memory or an EEPROM.

The memory 34 may receive basic information and variable information.

The controller 36 may update the display content of the terminal by detecting a change in the variable information. In order to detect the change of the variable information, the value of the variable information which is displayed in advance may be compared with the value of the received variable information.

The battery may be used as the power supply 40.

The terminal control method and the terminal for the same according to an embodiment of the present invention have been described above. As described above, according to the present invention, the data content displayed on the terminal can be distinguished as basic information and variable information, and transmitted and activated to reduce the data transmission time, the synchronization time of the entire system, and to reduce the power consumption. have.

For example, about 2,000 tags (terminals) can be controlled by accessing 2,000 gateways, and the time required for synchronizing all tags can be reduced to about 3 minutes to 5 minutes. In other words, by shortening the synchronization time, tags (terminals) repeat active / sleep mode every 5 minutes in the case of their products, and even if they are active / sleep every 15 minutes, synchronization is faster than before. As a result, power consumption may be reduced by about one third.

Terminal control method and terminal according to the present invention is not limited to the configuration and method of the embodiments described as described above, the embodiments are all or part of each of the embodiments is optional so that various modifications can be made It may be configured in combination.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, but, on the contrary, It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

10: server
20: terminal, tag, client device, electronic display device
21: basic information
22, 23, 24: variable information
30: gateway

Claims (18)

In the control method of a terminal including a display,
Initializing the terminal using basic information regarding the display contents of the terminal;
Obtaining variable information about display contents of the terminal;
Displaying display contents of a terminal using the basic information and variable information;
Detecting a change in at least a portion of the variable information;
Updating the display content of the terminal according to the change of the variable information. The method of claim 1,
The basic information includes at least one of a framework and image information on the display content of the terminal,
The variable information includes a name of an object related to the display content and attribute information of the object. The method of claim 2,
The name of the object includes a product name, and the attribute information of the object includes price information of the product. The method of claim 3,
The attribute information of the target terminal control method including at least one of the icon, thumbnail image, number, barcode information of the product. The method of claim 1,
Initializing the terminal comprises obtaining the basic information pre-stored in the terminal. The method of claim 1,
Initializing the terminal includes obtaining the basic information by receiving data through a network. The method of claim 1,
The terminal is a terminal control method comprising an electronic price display device by the electric shelf label (ESL) system. The method of claim 1,
The variable information includes information in a text format,
The displaying may include outputting the text format information to the terminal sequentially based on the basic information. The method of claim 1,
The detecting of the change of the variable information includes receiving a signal from a server or a short range wireless signal transmitting device. In the terminal comprising a display,
A memory for storing basic information about a display content of the terminal;
A controller for initializing the terminal using the basic information;
A communication module for obtaining variable information about display contents of a terminal;
A display unit which displays the display contents of the terminal using the basic information and the variable information; Including,
The communication module detects a change in at least a portion of the variable information,
The control unit updates the display content of the terminal in accordance with the change of the variable information. The method of claim 10,
The terminal includes an electronic price display device by an electric shelf label (ESL) system. The method of claim 10,
The basic information includes at least one of a framework and image information on the display content of the terminal,
The variable information includes a name of an object related to the display content and attribute information of the object. The method of claim 12,
The name of the object includes a product name, and the attribute information of the object includes price information of the product. The method of claim 13,
The attribute information of the target terminal includes at least one of an icon, a thumbnail image, a number, and barcode information of a product. The method of claim 10,
The control unit initializes the terminal by acquiring the basic information pre-stored in the storage unit. The method of claim 10,
The controller acquires the basic information from the server through the communication module and stores the basic information in the storage unit. The method of claim 10,
The variable information includes information in a text format,
And the control unit sequentially outputting the text format information on the display unit based on the basic information. The method of claim 10,
The terminal further comprises a power supply for supplying power.

Images