WO2002027963A1

WO2002027963A1 - System for displaying price information of products on display stand using electrical cable communication

Info

Publication number: WO2002027963A1
Application number: PCT/KR2001/001629
Authority: WO
Inventors: Seung-Ho Tak
Original assignee: Sht Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2000-09-29
Filing date: 2001-09-27
Publication date: 2002-04-04
Also published as: KR100390065B1; KR20020025576A; AU2001292418A1; TW519799B

Abstract

A system for displaying price information of products on a display stand using electrical cable communication is provided. The system includes: one or more product information display terminals for displaying the price information of products on the display stand on a real-time basis; a controller connected to the one or more product information display terminals for receiving the price information of predetermined display products allocated to each terminal and converting the price information into an electrical signal that can be processed by each terminal; and a server connected to the controller through an electrical cable for transmitting the price information of the products n the display stand to the controller. The system displays price information of the products on the display stand using electrical cable communication, thereby facilitating the installation of the price information display terminal, reducing the need for human labor for inventory management of products on the display stand, improving efficiency of services, and reducing management costs.

Description

SYSTEM FOR DISPLAYING PRICE INFORMATION OF PRODUCTS ON DISPLAY STAND USING ELECTRICAL CABLE COMMUNICATION

Technical Field The present invention relates to a system for displaying various kinds of information about each of products on a display stand, and more particularly, to a system for displaying price information of products on a display stand using electrical cable communication. Background Art A wide variety of products are displayed on a display stand in large-sized stores such as supermarkets or hypermarkets, and price signs in which the names and prices of products are described are posted on display panels for the products for sale. Since the price signs need to be updated each time the prices or types of goods displayed are changed, tremendous time, effort and money are required for managing the prices and names of the goods. To solve this problem, some stores use price display terminals instead of the price signs, but in most cases the price display terminals adopt traditional wired data communication techniques. Thus, the price display terminals require extra communication cables or wireless communication devices for data communications. However, installing the price display terminals is burdensome for stores since the price display terminals themselves are expensive and construction of communication lines as well as installation of the display terminals and communications devices is expensive.

In most supermarkets or hypermarkets where numerous kinds of inventory products are stocked, it has been a common procedure to check the entire sales amount using bar codes and a point-of-sale (POS) terminal and automatically send out a purchase order to the appropriate supplier when the product inventory drops below a certain level. However, this conventional system has been unsatisfactory in automatically coping with the situation in the event that inventory products actually remaining on the supermarket shelves are sold out. That is, in order to appropriately cope with this situation, the existence of inventory products should be checked on a real-time basis to instantaneously supply the inventory products from a storehouse. However, the conventional system has a problem in that inventory products on the display stand are not checked properly since considerable human labor is required in checking inventory on a real-time basis, thus adversely affecting sales of the products. Disclosure of the Invention

To solve the above problems, it is a first object of the present invention to provide a system for displaying price information of products on a display stand using electrical cable communication wherein a terminal in which a unique identification (ID) number for each product is allocated to the position of a designated product code is installed to display a price corresponding to the ID number provided by the terminal through an electrical cable modem if only utility AC power is applied to the terminal.

It is a second object of the present invention to provide a method for checking an inventory of products displayed on a display stand on a real-time basis, whereby the inventory status of the products on the display stand can be monitored on a real-time basis to report to a manager when the product inventory drops below a predetermined level.

In order to achieve the first object, the present invention provides a system for displaying price information of products on a display stand using electrical cable communication. The system includes: one or more product information display terminals for displaying the price information of products on the display stand on a real-time basis; a controller which includes an electrical cable communications device for performing electrical cable communication to receive the price information and an identification (ID) number of a product information display terminal on which the price information is to be displayed using the electrical cable communication, and which is connected to the one or more product information display terminal to convert the price information into an electrical signal that can be displayed on the product information display terminals and transmit the electrical signal to the product information display terminal corresponding to the received ID number; and a server connected to the controller through an electrical cable for transmitting predetermined price information of the products on the display stand to the controller. In order to achieve the second object, the present invention provides a method for checking an inventory of products displayed on a display stand on a realtime basis using an inventory checking unit connected to a server. The method includes the steps of: generating a laser beam using a laser diode and a collimating lens; emitting the laser beam toward a retroreflector for reflecting the laser beam in a direction antiparallel to the incident direction; receiving the reflected laser beam and converting the laser beam into an electrical signal; and analyzing the electrical signal to determine whether or not there are products blocking the propagation path of the laser beam, and transmitting the result to the server. Brief Description of the Drawings

The above objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which: FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a system for displaying price information of products on a display stand according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an example of a price information display unit of FIG. 1 ; FIG. 3 is a perspective view of another example of the price information display unit of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of another example of the price information display unit of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining the detailed operation of an inventory checking unit;

FIGS. 6A and 6B show a method for checking an inventory of products on a display stand using the inventory checking unit of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 shows a method for setting an inventory shortage determination level by controlling a retroreflector and a reflecting mirror; and FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a method for checking inventory on a real-time basis.

Best mode for carrying out the Invention

Referring to FIG. 1 , a system for displaying price information of products on a display stand performs data communications between a server 10 and a controller 11 through electrical cable modems 101 and 111 . The controller 11 has a three or four digit controller ID (C-ID) number. Also, the controller 11 has a built-in multiplexer circuit 112 for receiving data from the server 10 through the electrical cable modem 101 when the server addresses the C-ID number and for transmitting the data to a product information display terminal 12 connected to the controller 11 . 6, 12, 24, 48, or 96 product information display terminals having unique addresses may be attached to each controller 11 , thereby simultaneously displaying prices for different products. The controller 11 having the three or four digit unique ID number includes the multiplexer 112, a CPU & memory 113, a power supply 114, and an electrical cable modem 111. The product information display terminal 12 installed on the display stand includes a price information display unit 121 for displaying price and sales information relating to each product. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an example of the price information display unit 121. Referring to FIG. 2, the price information display unit 121 displays a 4 to 6 digit number in green, blue or another color using 7 segment light emitting diodes (LEDs). In addition, a word "SALE" may be displayed together with a discount rate XX % in a color such as red, different from that in which the price information is displayed, by using 7 segment LEDs having the same configuration. The currency unit of each country such as $, FF, or SF may be printed on a film and displayed using a separate light source as a backlight. The 7 segment LEDs are not always in a lit state but appear to flicker quickly upon application of a drive pulse that alternates between on/off states. Those who see this can recognize the flickering only as a change in light intensity due to optical illusion. Using this phenomenon, the price information display unit 121 detects illumination in the vicinity of the product information display terminal 12 to change a lighting period of a drive pulse of the 7 segment LEDs, thereby controlling the light intensity of characters or numerals displayed on the display terminal 12. That is, if the illumination in the vicinity of the display terminal 12 is high, the lighting period of the drive pulse thereof is increased to increase the light intensity of the displayed characters or numerals, thereby maintaining better visibility. On the other hand, if the illumination in the vicinity of the display terminal 12 is low, the lighting period of the drive pulse is decreased to reduce the light intensity of the displayed characters or numerals, thereby preventing a dazzling effect on customers' eyesight.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a price display terminal 35, which is another example of the price information display unit 121. The price display terminal 35 includes the price information display unit 121 of FIG. 2 described above and a transparent plate 31 for displaying the name of a product and quantity of the product on which the price is based (hereinafter referred to as "product unit"), an opaque plate 33 of black or a specific color spaced apart from the transparent plate 31, and a paper 32 inserted between the transparent plate 31 and the opaque plate 33 for printing the name and product unit of the product. In the case where characters are directly written on the transparent plate 31 with a felt marker, a side lamp 34 is provided to make the name and product unit of the product more visible.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a color display board 41 , which is another example of the price information display unit 121 for displaying the name, price, and product unit of a product. The color display board 41 includes a monochrome dot matrix, a full color dot matrix display, an LCD, an EL, or an LED. In addition to price information, the color display board 41 receives image data such as instructions for use of and advertisements relating to a product from the server 10 and graphically represents the price and image data.

If the price of a display item corresponding to a code number assigned by the server 10 is input, the price is displayed on the product information display terminal 12 corresponding to the ID number xxx of the controller 11 and the address of an ID number of the product information display terminal 12. For sale items designated by the server 10, SALE xx% and the corresponding prices are alternately displayed on the product information display terminal 12 at several second intervals. Alternatively, SALE xx% and the corresponding prices may be displayed together at the same time. As described above, SALE xx% is displayed in a color such as red which is different from that in which the corresponding price is displayed. Since the server 10 communicates with each controller 11 through the electrical cable modems 101 and 111 , an additional wire for data communications is not required. That is, the server 10 can communicate with the controller 11 simply by plugging in the controller 11 , that is, the server 10 and the controller 11 operate as a plug-and-play device, thereby reducing the installation costs and reflecting changes in prices as well as items on a real-time basis.

Preferably, the product information display terminal 12 further includes an inventory checking unit 122, a camera 123, a bar code recognizing unit 124, a server call button 125, and an MP3 input/output device 126. The inventory checking unit 122 checks the inventory levels of products on the display stand on a real-time basis and sends inventory level information to the server 10. The operation of the inventory checking unit 122 will now be described in greater detail with reference to FIG. 5.

Referring to FIG. 5, a laser beam generated by a laser diode 51 passes through a collimating lens 52 to be changed to a parallel laser beam. As the parallel laser beam passes through a cylindrical lens 53, the laser beam is spread out but remains collimated. The laser beam emitted from a laser light source 59 is reflected from the retroreflector 55 provided outside of the inventory checking unit 122 in a direction antiparallel to its incident direction. Here, a retroreflective film is used as the retroreflector 55 designed for retroreflection in which the laser beam is reflected onto the wall of the display stand at 180 degrees relative to the angle of incidence. The laser beam is reflected from the retroreflector 55 onto a beam splitter 54 configured as a semitransparent mirror inclined at 45 degrees or a 45 degree prism. The laser beam passing through the beam splitter 54 is received by a beam receiver 57 after passing through a focusing lens 56. The beam reflected from the retroreflector 55 forms a two-dimensional surface. The beam receiver 57 comprised of photodetectors or a charge coupled device (CCD) array changes the received laser beam into an electrical signal and transmits the electrical signal together with a laser diode drive pulse to a microprocessor 58 through an AND gate 50. That is, in order to prevent errors due to irregular reflection and disturbance light, the laser diode drive pulse is synchronized with a pulse of the beam receiver 57, and a resulting pulse is output to the microprocessor 58 only when both synchronized signals are applied through the AND gate 50. If a line of phototransistors are used as the beam receiver 57 as shown in FIG. 5, receiving the reflected laser beam in more than a predetermined number of phototransistors means that there is no obstacle on a propagation path of the laser beam as described above with reference to FIG. 5.

The microprocessor 58 receives the output of the AND gate 50, determines an inventory shortage, and transmits the result to the server 10 using electrical cable communication. A method for checking the shortage of inventory of products displayed on a display stand in the inventory checking unit 122 described above will now be described with reference to FIGS. 6A and 6B.

Referring to FIG. 6A, a laser beam emitted from the inventory checking unit 122 is reflected from a reflecting mirror 61 and incident on the retroreflector 55 installed on the lower wall of a display stand. Since the inventory level of a display product 62 is low so that the inventory items do not block the laser beam between the reflecting mirror 61 and the retroreflector 55, the laser beam incident onto the retroreflector 55 is reflected in a direction antiparallel to its incident direction back to the inventory checking unit 122. The microprocessor 58 determines from the laser beam incident on the inventory checking unit 122 that the inventory level of the display product 62 is low.

FIG. 6B shows a state in which the inventory level of a display product 63 is high. Referring to FIG. 6B, a laser beam emitted from the inventory checking unit 122 is reflected from the reflecting mirror 61 to go toward the retroreflector 55 installed on the lower wall of the display stand, but the laser beam is blocked by the display product 63. Since the blocked laser beam is reflected irregularly by the display product 63, a very small amount of the laser beam returns to the inventory checking unit 122. In this case, the microprocessor 58 of the inventory checking unit 122 determines that the inventory level of the display product 63 is high.

Since the display products have a variety of shapes, a reference level for appropriately determining the existence of inventory of each product varies depending on the type of products. Furthermore, since the same product is kept in a different way from store to store, it is necessary to have a function for changing the reference level for determining the existence of inventory of each product. FIG. 7 shows the implementation of this function. Referring to FIG. 7, a reference level for determining the existence of the inventory is set depending on the position at which a retroreflector 73 or 74 is attached. The angle of a reflecting mirror 71 or 72 is appropriately changed in order to reflect the laser beam toward the retroreflector 73 or 74 (the same retroreflector in two different positions). For example, if the combination of the retroreflector 73 and the reflecting mirror 71 is used, it is determined that the inventory level of a display product 75 is low. If the inventory shortage determination level is not deemed as appropriate, the determination level can be controlled by moving the retroreflector 73 down and turning the reflecting mirror 71 toward the moved retroreflector 74. In the combination of the retroreflector 74 and the reflecting mirror 72 whose positions have been changed, it is determined that the inventory level of the display product 75 is high, though it is the same as that previously determined to be low.

The bar code recognizing unit 124 of the product information display terminal 12 transmits bar code information of real display products using a bar code reader (not shown) for verifying the identity of products managed on the server 10 and products actually on a display stand, and compares the bar code information with products managed by the price information display unit 121. Thus, occurrences of an error due to inconsistency between the products on the display stand and the product information displayed by the price information display unit 121 may be reduced.

The camera 123 of the product information display terminal 12 performs a function of transmitting image information of the display products to the server 10 using electrical cable communication. The image information of the products received from the server 10 is posted on the Internet, thereby permitting a real-time inquiry for the image information in the display product monitoring terminal 13 connected to the server 10.

The MP3 input/output device 126 downloads music and audio data from the server 10 using electrical cable communication and stores the data in an internal memory (not shown). If the customer approaches the product information display terminal 12 within a predetermined distance, the product information display terminal 12 detects the customer's approach and performs an advertisement or guidance using the stored music or audio data. In order to prevent transmission of data to a wrong address as well as transmission of noise or unwanted signal due to a varying load of an electrical cable when the server 10 transmits data via the electrical cable, communication is accomplished based on a data transmission packet structure. Furthermore, in order to transmit data to the appropriate display terminal 12 having the correct destination address when the server 10 transmits the relevant data to the display terminal 12, header informationis attached to the data. The header information contains addresses of a corresponding multiplexer and display apparatus, and the data is transmitted to the display terminal 12 via the multiplexer having the address designated by the header information. After error detection and recovery algorithms are applied to detect errors in data which may be generated during transmission, only pure data from which the header information has been removed is displayed on the price information display terminal 121.

If sale information of each product such as that represented by sale XX%, as well as price information thereof, is displayed on the price information display unit 121 , the server 10 also transmits sale information and period information indicating the duration when the sale information is displayed, in addition to the price information. The price information display unit 121 uses a built-in microcontroller (not shown) to display the sale information according to the duration. The server 10 communicates one-to-one with the product information display terminal 12. If a request for communication is made by another product information display terminal 15, for example, if the product information display terminal 15 sends a corresponding signal upon detection of a product code whose inventory level is low, the controller 11 having the multiplexer 112 generates a stand-by priority signal to cause the product information display terminal 15 to wait until the previous one-to- one communication is finished. If a plurality of product information display terminals 12, ... , and 15 makes a request for communication with the server 10, priority of communication is determined in an order that a request for communications is made, and the server 10 communicates with each of the plurality of product information display terminals 12 ... , and 15 according to the determined priority. In this case, the product information display terminal 12, ... , or 15 submits a request for transmission to the server 10 after storing a part of a communication requested by each product information display terminal 12, ... , or 15 in the memory 113 of the controller 11.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a method for checking inventory on a real-time basis using the inventory checking unit 122 described above. Referring to FIG. 8, in step 700, a parallel laser beam is generated using the laser diode 51 and the collimating lens 52. In step 710, the laser beam is spread out but remains collimated as the parallel laser beam passes through the cylindrical lens 53, and then the laser beam is emitted toward the retroreflector 55. The emitted laser beam is reflected by the retroreflector 55 in a direction antiparallel to its incident direction. The reflected laser beam is reflected onto the beam splitter 54 configured as a semitransparent mirror inclined at 45 degrees or a 45 degree prism. The laser beam passing through the beam splitter 54 is received by the beam receiver 57 through the focusing lens 56. In step 720, the beam receiver 57 comprised of photodetectors or a charge coupled device (CCD) array converts the received laser beam into an electrical signal. In step 730, the microprocessor 58 determines whether the received electrical signal exceeds a predetermined threshold. In step 740, if the electrical signal exceeds the predetermined threshold, that is, if the laser beam is appropriately received, the microprocessor 58 determines that the current inventory level of a product is not sufficient. On the other hand, in step 750, if the electrical signal does not exceed the predetermined threshold, that is, if the laser beam is not appropriately received, the microprocessor 58 determines that the current inventory level of a product is sufficient. In step 760, the microprocessor 58 transmits the result to the sever 10 connected via an electrical cable. In step 770, the sever 10 transmits the result to a terminal of a product inventory manager connected through the Internet so that the inventory of products on a display stand are maintained at an appropriate level. Industrial Applicability

As described above, a system for displaying price information of products on a display stand using electrical cable communication according to the present invention facilitates the installation of a price information display terminal, reduces the need for human labor for inventory management of products on the display stand, improves efficiency of services, and reduces management costs.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A system for displaying price information of products on a display stand using electrical cable communication, the system comprising: one or more product information display terminals for displaying the price information of products on the display stand on a real-time basis; a controller which includes an electrical cable communications device for performing electrical cable communication to receive the price information and an identification (ID) number of a product information display terminal on which the price information is to be displayed using the electrical cable communication, and which is connected to the one or more product information display terminals to convert the price information into an electrical signal that can be displayed on the product information display terminals and transmit the electrical signal to the product information display terminal corresponding to the received ID number; and a server connected to the controller through an electrical cable for transmitting predetermined price information of the products on the display stand to the controller.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the product information display terminal comprises: a laser light source that generates a laser beam using a laser diode and a collimating lens; a beam receiver that receives a laser beam reflected from a retroreflector for reflecting an incident laser beam in a direction antiparallel to the incident direction if there are no products blocking the propagation path of the laser beam and converts the laser beam into a corresponding electrical signal; and an inventory checking unit that analyzes the electrical signal, determines whether there are products blocking the propagation path of the laser beam, and transmits the result to the server.

The system of claim 1 , wherein the price information display terminal further comprises a paper or film inserted between a transparent plate and an opaque plate for displaying the name, price unit, and an advertisement of each product, both plates being spaced apart by a predetermined distance, and an illuminating means being disposed on the edge of the transparent plate for brightening the paper or film.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the price information display terminal further comprises a graphic representation means that receives image data such as instructions for using a product and advertisements relating to the product from the server and graphically represents the image data.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the product price information display terminal further comprises a bar code recognizing unit that reads a bar code of each product actually displayed on the display stand and transmits the bar code information to the server.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the product price information display terminal detects the illumination in the vicinity of the display terminal and controls the light intensity of characters displayed on the display terminal by changing the period of a drive pulse according to the detected illumination.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the product price information display terminal outputs music and audio data downloaded from the server when a purchaser approaches the display terminal within a predetermined distance.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the product price information display terminal further comprises a camera for transmitting image data relating to each product displayed on the display stand to the server.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the server posts the image data received from the camera on the Internet.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the server performs a remote examination on the product price information terminal and the controller and posts the result on the Internet.

11. A method for checking inventory of products on a display stand on a real-time basis using an inventory checking unit connected to a server, the method comprising the steps of: generating a laser beam using a laser diode and a collimating lens; emitting the laser beam toward a retroreflector for reflecting the laser beam in a direction antiparallel to the incident direction; receiving the reflected laser beam and converting the laser beam into an electrical signal; and analyzing the electrical signal to determine whether or not there are products blocking the propagation path of the laser beam, and transmitting the result to the server.