WO2017017220A1

WO2017017220A1 - Interactive communication between a public access point and the visitor thereto

Info

Publication number: WO2017017220A1
Application number: PCT/EP2016/068077
Authority: WO
Inventors: Guillaume WALINE
Original assignee: Indigo
Priority date: 2015-07-28
Filing date: 2016-07-28
Publication date: 2017-02-02
Also published as: FR3039682B1; FR3039682A1

Abstract

The invention relates to an interactive communication system (6) between a sales point and at least one visitor to the sales point, said system comprising a computer-type appliance (14) comprising instructions which, when carried out, allow said appliance to interact with the at least one visitor, and at least one interaction-triggering element (10) designed so as to be arranged on the sales point in such as way that it is visible and/or accessible to the at least one visitor. The at least one interaction-triggering element (10) communicates with the appliance (14) and is designed so as to transmit at least one signal to the appliance, corresponding to an interaction trigger, and the instructions of the appliance are designed to initiate the interaction on reception of said at least one signal.

Description

INTERACTIVE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN A PUBLIC ACCESS POINT AND ITS VISITOR

The invention relates to the field of interactive communication between a system and a visitor. Published patent document US 2015/01 12790 A1 discloses a system and method for interaction between a sales area and its visitors. Specifically, the system and the method in question provide for putting labels (or "tags" in English) on the product sales departments, these labels containing information specific to the exposed products and can be read by a smartphone. In this case, these labels may have QR-type matrix codes (acronym for the English expression "Quick Response") intended to be read by means of a specific application installed on most smartphones. These codes contain in fact uniform resource identifiers, commonly called URI (Uniform Resource Identifier). The smartphone can then connect to an access point of a server via a local network of the point of sale or via internet. The visitor can then view commercial offers associated with the products associated with the label he has just read with his smartphone. Via this interface on the server, the visitor can book one or more commercial offers that are presented to him, these offers then being applied during the checkout at the exit of the sales area. In this teaching, the interaction between a visitor and the point of sale is initiated only by reading a label or "tag" using the smartphone of the visitor. In other words, the interaction requires the visitor to have a smartphone and take the initiative to read the label using his smartphone. The initiation of the interaction is therefore somewhat restrictive. In addition, once the interaction initiated, it is mainly limited to the presentation of promotional information via access to a server. Such an interaction may be interesting for certain types of commercial actions, but requires some effort on the part of the visitor. Published patent document US 2014/0316901 A1 discloses an interactive product promotion system for sale on a store rack. Similar to the previous teaching, the system provides that the visitor reads by means of his smartphone a barcode or QR code, displayed on the product or on the rack, near the product. The reading of this code by the smartphone produces, similar to the previous teaching, a point of access to a server via a local network of the point of sale or via the Internet. This access point then makes it possible to interact with the server by viewing commercial offers and to enter those of its choice. At checkout, these offers will then be applied and consumed. Unlike the previous teaching, the interactive system provides a display of the promotion directly at a display on the rack. Interaction with the visitor, however, requires, similar to previous teaching, that he reads the code with his smartphone. The initiation of the interaction is therefore somewhat restrictive. In addition, once the interaction initiated, it is mainly limited to the presentation of promotional information via access to a server.

Published patent document US 2009/0030787 A1 discloses a centralized management system of promotions on products offered for sale in different stores. A smartphone can, via a specific application, access a commercial promotions management platform and interact with this platform. During this interaction, the identity of the potential buyer and the store are transmitted and exploited to generate the promotions. When the buyer has selected one or more promotions, they are then associated with his act of purchase, which allows to apply them during checkout. Similar to previous teachings, the initiation of interaction requires some effort and some willingness on the part of the visitor to the point of sale. Moreover and always similarly to the previous teachings, once the interaction initiated, it is limited, essentially, to the presentation of promotional information via access to a server.

The aim of the invention is to propose an interactive communication system between a public access point, such as a point of sale, and its visitor which overcomes at least one drawback of the state of the art, more particularly the above-mentioned state of the art. More particularly, the invention aims to provide a system for a more efficient and dynamic interaction between a public access point and its visitor. The subject of the invention is an interactive communication system between a public access point, such as a point of sale, and one or more visitors of said public access point, said system comprising: a computer-type device comprising instructions which, when executed, enable said apparatus to interact with the visitor (s); at least one interaction trigger, configured to be arranged on the public access point visibly and / or accessible to said one or more visitors; characterized in that the one or more interaction triggers are in communication with the apparatus and configured to transmit one or more signals to the apparatus corresponding to an interaction trigger, and the instructions of the apparatus are configured to initiate the interaction upon receipt of said one or more signals.

The public access point can be a visitor area, a point of sale such as a department store, or a drive-in, that is to say a driving service proposed by particular fast food brands or large distribution.

By apparatus of the computer type is meant an electronic machine which functions by sequentially reading a set of instructions, organized into programs, which make it execute logical and arithmetic operations on binary digits. This device can be a microcomputer, a tablet or a smartphone.

The trigger (s) are permanently connected to the computer.

The interaction managed by the computer can be done via the, one or more triggers.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the trigger or triggers comprise at least one trigger of the analog type and / or at least one trigger of the digital type.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the trigger or triggers are selected from the following list: push button, lever, presence detector of the or at least one of the visitors, capacitive sensor, brightness sensor, temperature sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, color detector, hygrometry detector, biometric detector, magnetic detector, presence detector fluid, NFC reader, bluetooth® beacon, video camera, microphone, touch screen, capacitive surface, photocell, gesture sensor, smart card reader, bar code reader, fragrance diffuser. These sensors can be configured to be able to communicate with each other, in particular by wireless communication, such as bluetooth®, radio frequencies or wifi.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the system comprises a connector connecting the trigger or triggers to the device.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the connector is configured to be connected in a wired manner to the trigger or to each of the triggers, preferably following USB type connectors.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the connector is configured to communicate wirelessly with the server, preferably by radio waves and / or light beams.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the connector and / or the trigger or at least one of the triggers comprises at least one analog digital converter allowing the (x) trigger (x) of the analog type to communicate with the device.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the connector is configured to communicate with the trigger (s) according to the l ² C standard. It is also possible to use one or more other protocols, such as in particular the serial communication protocols, SPI ( an acronym for "Serial Peripheral Interface" which is a synchronous serial data bus named by Motorola, which operates in full-duplex mode), UART (acronym for "Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter" which is a universal asynchronous transceiver, used in particular to connect a computer to a serial port), Radio, Wifi, Bluetooth® or NFC.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the instructions on the device are configured to, when interacting with the visitor or visitors, display content on a screen and / or communicate with a smartphone of the visitor or each of the visitors. , preferably by the transmission of a uniform resource identifier URI audit (s) smartphone (s). The invention also relates to a public access point such as a point of sale, comprising: at least one display, such as a presentation rack of merchandise for sale; an interactive communication system with one or more visitors of the public access point; remarkable in that the communication system is according to the invention, one or more triggers being arranged on the display.

The measures of the invention are interesting in that they allow the system to interact more effectively with visitors. Indeed, the fact that the trigger (s) are in permanent communication with the computer-type device, combined with the fact that the device manages the interaction, makes it possible to ensure a substantially more dynamic and varied interaction with the visitors. The use of a connector to connect different triggers with the device is also particularly interesting because it allows different types of triggers, including analog triggers and digital triggers, to communicate satisfactorily with the device.

The triggers can thus be arranged as close as possible to the products to be sold, the connector providing the connection, the power supply and the interfacing with the computer. The latter can be very easily loaded with different software depending on the type of products and / or the proposed advertising campaign. The interactive communication system of the invention is therefore interesting both from a quality of interaction point of view and from a modularity point of view.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will be better understood from the description and the drawings, among which:

- Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a point of sale according to the invention;

- Figure 2 is a schematic representation of an interactive communication system between a point of sale and one or more visitors of said point of sale, according to the invention.

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a public access point, more specifically a point of sale 2 comprising a rack 4 intended to expose products for sale, and an interactive communication system 6 between the rack in question 4 and visitors 8 of the point of sale.

The interactive communication system 6 includes one or more interaction triggers 10 disposed near the rack or directly on the rack in question. Triggers can include selected elements, optionally, from the following:

mechanical systems such as pushbuttons or levers;

- interactive surfaces, such as capacitive screens or paper with capacitive ink;

- sensors or presence detectors;

dynamic NFC tags, that is to say electronic tags equipped with NFC (short for Near Field Communication) and programmable technology;

- Bluetooth® tags, such as the iBeacon® type;

- video cameras;

- sound speakers or microphone;

- gesture sensors thanks to LEDs

- bar code readers

- smart card readers

- interactive mirrors;

- video screens; portable communication devices such as smartphones, tablets or laptops;

- fragrance diffuser;

capacitive detectors;

- brightness detectors;

- temperature detectors;

- accelerometers;

- gyroscopes;

- color detectors;

- hygrometry detectors;

- detectors

- magnetic sensors; and

- Presence detectors fluid. These different triggers are intended to initiate an interaction between the point of sale and one or more of the visitors of said point of sale. To do this, the triggers are advantageously multiple and selected from the aforementioned list. They are then placed near the products exposed on the shelf of the point of sale. They communicate with a computer or central server configured to manage interactions with the visitor (s). The communication with the visitor or visitors can then take place via one or more triggers such as a touch screen or via one or more communication devices of the visitor or visitors, such as a smartphone or a tablet.

FIG. 2 illustrates the architecture of the interactive communication system 6 of FIG. The system 6 comprises one or more triggers 10 as mentioned and listed above. These triggers are connected, advantageously wired, with a connector 12. The latter is configured to allow each of the triggers to communicate with the computer or server 14 ensuring the management of interactions with the visitor or visitors. It may comprise one or more analog-to-digital converters in order to enable analog triggers, such as for example a push button or a presence detector, to communicate with the computer or server. Advantageously, the or each of the analog triggers comprises a analog-digital converter. It may be a microcontroller, particularly in the form of a component of the integrated circuit type in a package forming a "chip". Such a chip is an information processing and execution unit to which internal peripherals have been added to make assemblies without requiring the addition of ancillary components. A microcontroller can therefore operate autonomously after programming. Microcontrollers can integrate a non-volatile program memory (FLASH), a volatile data memory (SRAM), a non-volatile data memory (E2PROM), input-output ports (digital and analog), and even a clock, although external time bases can be used. Advantageously, they have ports and USB processing units (acronym for the expression "Universal Sériai Bus"). When the connector is connected wired with the trip units, it can also ensure their power supply, especially by a connection of the USB type. The communication protocol between the digital triggers and the connector can be based on the standard l ² C (acronym for the English expression "Inter-lntegrated Circuit"). It is a data bus designed by Philips® for home automation and home electronics applications. It makes it easy to connect a microprocessor and different circuits. There are innumerable peripherals exploiting this bus, it is even implementable by software in any microcontroller. The bus l ² C is two lines (with a mass common to the connected equipment). The maximum number of devices is limited by the number of available addresses, namely 7 bits for the address and a bit to define if one writes or reads, ie 128 devices.

Being able to connect triggers via a single connector type, such as USB, greatly facilitates on-site connection operations.

The connector 12 is also connected to the computer or server 14 managing the interactive communication. This connection can be wired or wireless. It is advantageously wireless, especially by radio frequencies.

The connector is not necessarily necessary, the sensors can be intelligent and can communicate with each other and with the server. In this case, the operating diagram is more similar to a typical web network.

The computer or server 14 advantageously comprises wireless communication means, such as including wifi, bluetooth® and RFID (acronym for the English expression "Radio Frequency Identification"). It includes a memory with software-like instructions to control the interaction with visitors to the point of sale. The software is configured to provide communication and interactions with the various triggers 10. It can also be configured to create, via the wifi antenna, a local area network dedicated to the communication operations with the users. The latter can then communicate with the computer or server 14 via their smartphones or tablets.

The computer or server 14 may also be configured to connect to the internet to access resources hosted outside the point of sale or store. The software of the computer or server 14 may be configured to provide digital communication or digital marketing developed, such as providing technical and commercial information on products, but also provide customer service after-sales service, or organize games or competitions. During these interactions with the visitor or visitors, behavioral and / or personal data of these may be collected, either via an input interface of these data, for example via a touch screen, or via more directly via smartphones or tablets of visitors.

The interactions that take place between the users and the system are illustrated by the screen 16 and the portable communication devices 18 of the smartphone or tablet type. The software of the computer or server 14 may be configured to allow, once the interaction has been triggered, communication with one or more visitors via a screen, in particular a touch screen 16. In this case, the screen 16 is connected to the computer or server 14. Video and / or sound sequences may be broadcast. Questionnaires can also be launched. The same type of interaction can also be operated via smartphones or tablets of visitors. In this case, the software of the computer or server 14 can use the system of URI (acronym for the English expression "Uniform Resource Identifier"). URI literally means "uniform resource identifier". It is a short string of characters identifying a resource on a network (for example, a web resource), physical or abstract, and whose syntax complies with an Internet standard set up for the World Wide Web. URIs are the core technology of the World Wide Web because all hyperlinks on the Web are expressed as URIs. Thanks to the transmission of a URI to a smartphone and / or a tablet, corresponding applications can then be opened on these devices. The communication of the URI is done through an intermediate web page. Following the triggering of this page, the capture of data can then be done. These data include the visitor's personal data (phone number, Facebook® ID, loyalty card number, e-mail address, gender, age, etc.), time data (date, time, frequency, etc.). .), device data (model, operating system, screen resolution, etc.), configuration data (number format, type and connection of triggers used, etc.) and commercial campaign data (broadcast content, concatenation of interactions, store concerned, etc.).

Here are some examples of interaction between a visitor and a point of sale equipped with the interactive communication system as described above: - actuation of a mechanical button to display a video or connect to a smartphone;

- geolocation of a consumer by combination of ultrasound and Bluetooth®;

- detect a presence in front of a spoke head or gondola;

- use gesture sensors to control an application programmed on the server,

- identify the user with a loyalty card to interact with him in a personalized way

- Capturing and analyzing images or videos to determine if a person is looking at the shelving or gondola;

- display of product cards on a screen or smartphone;

- connection with a customer service through a video connection;

- launch of a product video;

- connect to the smartphone using NFC or Bluetooth®;

- launch an application on a smartphone;

- guide a blind person to a closed place (indoor GPS);

- Make an interactive surface (sheet of paper, cardboard, glass ...) thanks to electromagnetic painting and control software thanks to this surface;

- perform a treasure hunt in a place thanks to geolocation and a virtual reality application.

Claims

claims

1. Interactive communication system (6) between a public access point, such as a point of sale, and one or more visitors (8) of said public access point, said system comprising:

a computer-type apparatus (14) comprising instructions which, when executed, enable said apparatus to interact with the visitor (s) (8);

at least one interaction trigger (10), configured to be arranged on the public access point in a visible manner and / or accessible to said visitor (s) (8);

the at least one interaction trigger (10) being in communication with the apparatus (14) and configured to transmit one or more signals to the apparatus corresponding to an interaction trigger, and the instructions of the apparatus (14) are configured to initiate the interaction upon receipt of said one or more signals;

characterized in that

the at least one interaction trigger (10) comprises at least one trigger of the analog type and at least one trigger of the digital type;

the device comprises a connector (12) connecting the triggers (10) to the apparatus (14); and

the connector (12) and / or the or at least one of the analog-type triggers (10) comprises at least one analog-to-digital converter enabling the analogue-type trigger (s) (10) to communicate with the device ( 14).

2. System (6) according to claim 1, characterized in that the trigger or triggers (10) are selected from the following list: push button, presence detector of the or at least one of the visitors, capacitive sensor, sensor of brightness, temperature sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, color detector, hygrometry detector, biometric detector, magnetic detector, fluid presence detector, NFC reader, bluetooth® beacon, video camera, microphone, touch screen.

3. System (6) according to one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the connector (12) is configured to be connected in a wired manner to the trigger or each of the triggers (10), preferably following a connection type USB.

4. System (6) according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the connector (12) is configured to wirelessly communicate with the apparatus (14), preferably by radio waves and / or light beams.

5. System (6) according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the connector (12) is configured to communicate with the trigger (s) (10) according to the standard l ² C.

6. System (6) according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the instructions on the device (14) are configured for, when interacting with the visitor or visitors (8), display content on a screen (16) and / or communicate with a smartphone (18) of the visitor or of each of the visitors (8), preferably by transmitting a uniform resource identifier URI to the smartphone (s).

7. Public access point such as a point of sale (2), comprising:

- at least one display, such as a rack (4) presentation of merchandise for sale;

- an interactive communication system (6) with one or more visitors (8) of the public access point;

characterized in that

the communication system (6) is according to one of claims 1 to 6, one or more of the triggers (10) being arranged on the display (4).