NZ328952A - Electronic price label with indicator lamp - Google Patents

Description

New Zealand No. 328952 International No. PCT/ TO BE ENTERED AFTER ACCEPTANCE AND PUBLICATION Priority dates: 15.10.1996;22.10.1996; Complete Specification Filed: 10.10.1997 Classification:^) G09F9/00; G09F13/00 Publication date: 25 November 1998 Journal No.: 1434 new zealand patents act 1953 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION Title of Invention: Electronic price label having a promotional indicator light Name, address and nationality of applicant(s) as in international application form: NCR CORPORATION, a Maryland corporation of 1700 South Patterson Boulevard, Dayton, Ohio 45479, United States of America 328 NEW ZEALAND PATENTS ACT, 1953 No: Date: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION ELECTRONIC PRICE LABEL HAVING A PROMOTIONAL INDICATOR LIGHT We, NCR CORPORATION, a corporation organised under the laws of the State of Maryland, United States of America, of 1700 south Patterson Boulevard, Dayton, Ohio 45479, United States of America, do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: (followed by page - la -) N.Z. PAT^N'l C'~F1CE oct 193 RECEIVEO - la - 328952 6925.doc ELECTRONIC PRICE LABEL HAVING A PROMOTIONAL INDICATOR LIGHT The present invention relates to electronic price label (EPL) systems, and in particular to an electronic price label having a promotional indicator light.

EPL systems typically include a plurality of EPLs, each associated with a particular product on display in large retail establishments such as supermarkets or department stores. The EPLs are typically attached to a rail along the leading edge of a shelf on which items of the associated product are stored and display the price of the product item by means of a semi-transparent liquid crystal display (LCD). In large retail establishments, thousands of individual EPLs may be used in order to display the prices of all products which are available for purchase within the store. Each EPL within a retail establishment is typically coupled to a central EPL computer in which information relating to the EPL is stored in memory in an EPL data file. Price information displayed by the EPL is stored in memory in a price look-up (PLU) file.

In order to keep the cost of EPLs to a minimum, only minimal information such as the item price and price per unit is typically displayed on an EPL. Other product information (e.g. item descriptions, bar code labels, package size, product codes, customer information, etc.) that changes infrequently is often displayed on paper overlays attached to the EPL. Such paper overlays may also be used when product items are subject to a special promotion, such as where certain products may be offered at a lower retail price than usual or where special offers or prizes may be associated with the purchase of the product. Alternatively, the individual product items which are subject to the promotion are marked with special tags or labels, or sometimes large banners or notices are installed on or adjacent the shelves on which the product is stored, so as to convey the information regarding the product to a customer. These overlays, tags, paper price labels, banners or notices must be printed or marked with the appropriate information and must be installed 328 and removed manually by store personnel. This procedure is time-consuming, inefficient and costly. Moreover at the end of a product promotion, the price information stored within the PLU file of the EPL computer may change before or after the promotional overlays, tags or labels etc., are removed resulting in a price discrepancy between the price displayed on the EPL and that on the promotional overlay, tag or label etc. causing customer confusion.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an efficient and cost effective manner of promoting a product without the use of paper overlays, tags, labels, banners or other notices and in which the risk of customer confusion is minimized.

In accordance with the present invention there is provided an electronic price label (EPL) comprising: a housing; a display means within the housing for displaying price information; a power supply, including a first battery and a second battery, wherein the second battery is replaceable; a lighting means within the housing and separate from the display for attracting customer attention to the EPL, the lighting means being powered by the power supply; and a control circuit within the housing for controlling application and removal of power from the power supply to the lighting means, wherein the control circuit applies power from the first battery only when the second battery is exhausted.

In one preferred embodiment, the application of power to the lighting means is controlled in response to lighting means control commands from a remote computer.

In a further preferred embodiment, the application of power to the lighting means may be controlled in response to manual movement of a push-button switch located on the EPL housing.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which; :• ^ ,.„p^ty jT~~; ; Cl" k-z- c 1 6 SE? I938 \ received I 328952 Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an EPL system including an EPL according to a first embodiment of the present invention; Fig, 2 is a perspective view of the EPL of Figure 1, having promotional indicator lights located at each corner of the front surface of the EPL housing; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the EPL of Figure 1 having promotional indicator lights located along the left and right edges of the front surface of the EPL housing; Fig. 4 is a block diagram of an EPL system including an EPL according to a second embodiment of the present invention; and Figure 5 is a perspective view of the EPL of Figure 4, having a promotional indicator light located in a push-button switch on the front surface of the EPL housing.

Referring to Figure 1, the electronic price label (EPL) system 10 shown therein comprises an electronic price label computer 12 which is associated with a memory unit 34 and which communicates with a plurality of electronic price labels 14 (EPLs), only one of which represented in Figure 1. Communication between the EPL computer 12 and the individual EPLs 14 may be by remote communication such as radio or infrared communication, by cable or by a combination of both.

Each EPL 14 includes a control circuit 16, a power source 18, a memory unit 20, a display unit 22, a transceiver 24 and a light emitting diode (LED) unit 28. The control circuit 16 controls the internal operation of the EPL 14 including the application of power by the power source 18 to the LED unit 28 and the display of information by the display unit 22.

The power source 18 supplies power to the LED unit 28 and preferably comprises one or more batteries. The memory unit 20 stores product information, price change information and other data necessary for the operation of the EPL 14. 32 8 9 The display unit 22 is preferably a liquid crystal display (LCD) and displays the price of the product item with which the EPL 14 is associated. The transceiver 24 receives price change and other commands from and transmits response commands to the EPL computer 12. The LED unit 28 comprises a plurality LEDs or other suitable illumination devices which may be of the same or different colours. For example, different coloured LEDs may be used to indicate different types of product promotions such as temporary price reduction or a special offer where two products may be purchased for the price of one.

The EPL computer 12 records, schedules and transmits all commands including price change commands and diagnostic commands to the EPL 14, and analyses status commands from the EPL 14. The memory unit 34 associated with the EPL computer 12 includes an EPL basic data file 36 which contains records for all the EPLs of the retail system 10 in which general product information, identification data, product price verifier data for the product with which the EPL is associated and LED status data for the EPL 14 is stored. The control software 30 of the EPL computer 12 includes LED control software 32 which transmits an LED control message to turn on/off the LEDs of the LED unit 28 based upon the LED status data for EPL 14 stored the EPL data file 36 of the memory unit 34.

Referring to Figures 2 and 3, two EPLs 14 which include promotional indicator lights are shown. In Figure 2, the LED unit 28 includes four LEDs 29, one LED located at each of the four corners of the front surface of the housing of EPL 14. In Figure 3, the LED unit 28 includes two elongate LED arrays 29, one located at each side of front surface of the EPL 14. Clear plastic covers protect the LEDs 29 which are also visible from the sides of the EPL 14.

A LED status indicator (i.e., on or off) is stored within the record of EPL 14 in EPL data file 26. If the status indicator indicates that the LEDs 29 of the LED unit 28 of EPL 14 should be ON, EPL computer 12 transmits a message addressed to 32 8 9 5 EPL 14 containing a command to turn on the LEDs 29. The transceiver 24 of EPL 14 receives the message from the EPL computer 12 and transmits an acknowledgment signal to the EPL computer 12. The control circuit 16 controls the power source 18 to supply power to the LED unit 28 causing the LEDs 29 to be switched on. When switched on, the LEDs 29 are luminous enough to allow the EPL 14 to be distinguishable from other surrounding EPLs and so attracts the attention of the customer to the items with which the EPL 14 is associated.

If the status indicator of the EPL data file 36 indicates that the LEDs 29 of the LED unit 28 of EPL 14 should be OFF, EPL computer 12 transmits a message addressed to EPL 14 containing a command to turn off the LEDs 29. The transceiver 24 of EPL 14 receives the message from the EPL a computer J 2 and transmits an acknowledgment signal to the EPL computer 12. The control circuit 16 controls the power source 18 so as to discontinue the application of power to the LED unit 28 causing the LEDs 29 to be switched off.

Figures 4 and 5 show an alternative embodiment of the EPL 14 in which the LED unit 28 of the EPL 14 may operate in a manual mode where the LED pushbutton 30 is manually activated by store personnel, or in an "automatic " mode where the LED unit 28 is controlled automatically by the EPL computer 12. The LED unit 28 includes a LED control circuit 42 which controls the application of power to the LED 29 of the LED unit 28 and a LED push button switch 44 which includes the LED 29 internally. As shown in Figure 5, the LED push-button switch 44 is located on the front surface of the housing of the EPL 14 so that the LED 29 of the EPL 14 can be manually activated and deactivated by store personnel. Power is applied to the internal LED 29 when the push button switch 44 is manually engaged in the "ON" position and power is removed from the LED 29 by the LED control circuit 42 when the push button switch 44 is engaged in the "OFF" position. When in the "on" position, LED 29 is luminous enough to allow the EPL 14 to be 3289 distinguishable from other surrounding EPLs and attracts the attention of the customer to the items with which the EPL 14 is associated.

Power supply 18 includes a first battery, which is typically a non-replaceable battery 40, and a second battery, which is a replaceable battery 38. Non-replaceable battery 40 is the primary power supply for the EPL 14 and replaceable battery 38 is the primary power supply for the LED unit 28. The LED control circuit 42 controls the application of power to the LED unit 28 while the control circuit 16 controls the application of power to the various components of the EPL 14 and. Thus, the non-replaceable battery 40 may act as a backup power supply for the LED unit 28 while the replaceable battery 38 may act as a backup power supply for the other components of the EPL 14. It should be understood that the power supply may include solar cells or a combination of batteries and solar cells.

The control circuit 16 receives LED control messages via the transceiver 24 from the EPL computer 12 and transmits control instructions within the messages to the LED control circuit 42. The LED control circuit 42 may operate so that power is supplied continuously by the power source 18 to the LED 29 or is supplied as a pulse signal so that the LED 29 appears to flash. The EPL data file 36 also stores LED operating information (manual/auto - off, on, continuous/pulse power application) to allow EPL computer 12 to control the operation of the LED unit 28 of the EPL 14. When the LED unit 28 is being controlled by the EPL computer 12 in the automatic mode, the LED control circuit 42 disables the LED push button switch 44.

The use of a LED push button switch 44 incorporating an LED allows store personnel to easily activate the LED 29 of the EPL 14 associated with a product which is subject to a promotion so as to attract the attention of customers to the promotion. Similarly when the product promotion ends, the LED 29 of the EPL 14 associated with the product may be switched off by store personnel. It should be 328952 understood that other types of lighted witches and light/switch combinations may be used instead of the LED push button switch 44, but the LED push-button switch 44 is particularly suitable because it requires very little area on the front surface of the housing of the EPL 14 in comparison to that which might otherwise be used by an overlay.

Claims (7)

8 32 895 2 WHAT WE CLAIM' IS:

1. An electronic price label (EPL) comprising: a housing; a display means within the housing for displaying price information; a power supply, including a first battery and a second battery, wherein the second battery is replaceable; a lighting means within the housing and separate from the display for attracting customer attention to the EPL, the lighting means being powered by the power supply; and a control circuit within the housing for controlling application and removal of power from the power supply to the lighting means, wherein the control circuit applies power from the first battery only when the second battery is exhausted.

2. An electronic price label according to claim 1, characterized in that the control circuit controls the application of power to the lighting means in response to control commands from a remote computer.

3. An electronic price label according to claim 2, characterized in that control commands are transmitted by the controlling computer in response to lighting means status data stored in a data file of memory means associated with the controlling computer.

4. An electronic price label according to any preceding claim, characterized in that the control circuit controls the application of power to the lighting means in response to manual activation of a push-button switch.

5. An electronic price label according to claim 4, characterized in that the lighting means is contained within the push-button switch. INHLLECTU/^^UPCRTY" Or N.z. 1 6 SEP 1938 RECEIVED - 9 - 328952

6. An electronic price label according to any preceding claim, characterized in that the lighting means comprises at least one light emitting diode (LED),

7. An electronic price label according to any preceding claim, characterized in that the lighting means is located on a front surface of the housing, (vc£....&^s^so- By the authorised agents A J PARK & SON Per W CLAIMS I 1 6 SEP (958 Received