WO2018100519A1

WO2018100519A1 - Refrigerated showcase and method for managing a fleet of such showcases

Info

Publication number: WO2018100519A1
Application number: PCT/IB2017/057517
Authority: WO
Inventors: Giancarlo Bonzi; Alessandro Pasini
Original assignee: C-Led S.R.L.
Priority date: 2016-12-01
Filing date: 2017-11-30
Publication date: 2018-06-07
Also published as: IT201600121842A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to the technical field of refrigerated showcases. Such apparatuses are well known in the art, and are used for the refrigerated storage of goods like food, beverages, medications, etc. In particular, the invention relates to refrigerated showcase, further comprising at least a sensor for the detection of temperature, of humidity, of the number of door openings, of the weight of the content, etc., and a system of geolocation of the showcase itself. Moreover, the present invention relates to a method for the remote management of such showcases.

Description

REFRIGERATED SHOWCASE AND

METHOD FOR MANAGING A FLEET OF SUCH SHOWCASES

[001] The present invention relates to the technical field of refrigerated showcases.

Such apparatuses are well known in the art, and are used for the refrigerated storage of goods like food, beverages, medications, etc. In particular, the invention relates to refrigerated showcase, further comprising at least a sensor for the detection of temperature, of humidity, of the number of door openings, of the weight of the content, etc., and a system of geolocation of the showcase itself. Moreover, the present invention relates to a method for the remote management of such showcases.

[002] Furthermore, the invention relates to a showcase comprising at least one LED bar for lighting the show case.

[003] Typically, a refrigerated showcase comprises:

- A body provided with at least a shelf for supporting refrigerated goods;

- A typically transparent door, so that a client can see the goods inside the showcase;

- A cooling system;

- A lighting system for lighting the goods inside the showcase.

[004] Such showcases comprise substantially two main kinds of embodiments:

- Vertical showcases similar to domestic refrigerators; a document describing such showcases is e.g. EP3053487 of LG Electronics Inc;

- Horizontal refrigerated cabinets; a document describing such cabinet is e.g.

EP0962729 of Bonnet Neve.

[005] The fact that the same concepts described here can be applied to vertical or horizontal showcases containing frozen goods is obvious for the skilled man.

[006] A problem of such apparatuses is the control of temperature and degree of humidity inside them. It is customary to control the cooling system through a thermostat, so that the cooling system is activated when the internal temperature exceeds a pre-set threshold due to heat loss, e.g. caused by heat loss through showcase walls. A significant cause for heat loss is door opening. This effect can be very sensitive if door openings are frequent, or if the door is left ajar or imperfectly shut. This occurs more easily in self- service Points of Sale (PoS) where consumers themselves open showcase door to pick up desired goods. As they are concentrated in picking up the material to be bought, they do not always pay attention to re-closing the refrigerated showcase door. A refrigerated showcase frequently opened, or left ajar, accumulates condensation due to the humidity of external air entering into the showcase; this air cools down, releasing some percentage of water. The correlation among temperature, degree of humidity, frequency and duration of door openings can help to detect anomalous cases of showcase use, and symmetrically the correct working of the refrigerated showcase itself.

[007] US2010258643A1 discloses a system for remotely controlling and monitoring a food refrigerator, and its content, of the type intended to be given in rental or in free loan from a manufacturer to a vendor of cold products, comprising a control unit for checking and storing a plurality of functioning parameters of the food refrigerator, an RFID reader intended to read data stored in a plurality of RFID tags attached to the cold products, a communication unit for interconnecting an external device, the RFID reader comprising means for retrieving data from said RFID tags when the cold products are still stocked inside the food refrigerator and the communication unit localization means for transmitting information to the external device about a geographical localization of the food refrigerator. Said means produce a radio frequency signal at predetermined time intervals for activating said RFID tags. The data stored in said RFID tag comprises a unique identification number. The communication unit is a GSM/GPRS unit. The external device is a remote server located outside the local area network (LAN) equipped with a management information system. According to this system, each refrigerator is associated to a dedicated GPS device and has its own communication unit. Furthermore, each product has its own RFID tag.

[008] In US2016050530 techniques for detecting the presence of a tag are described. A plurality of devices is deployed around an establishment, each of the devices is executing a client module to communicate with a server and receive a broadcast from a tag attached to an object. As the object approaches to a device, the broadcast from the tag is received by a device that reports to the server. As a result, the server executing a server module can determine a movement trajectory of the object from those devices that have received the broadcast from the tag. One embodiment of the present invention can be used to track an asset or facilitate a location-based service to a user wearing the tag.

[009] In both documents, each object is associated with a tag, and reader devices of the messages transmitted by the tag are needed in order to collect the information from the said tags. This results in high hardware costs for the tags and for the communication network connecting the tags with the remote servers or the cloud servers.

[0010] The information on the geolocation of refrigerated showcases is extremely important for the managers of refrigerated showcases fleets.

[0011] Refrigerated showcases are stolen more often than one would think. A geolocation system would allow the legitimate owner to track them down.

[0012] According to a further object of the invention, a procedure for the estimation of the daily sales might also be interesting to subjects other than the manager of the PoS, because the case of refrigerated showcases that are not owned by the PoS is more and more frequent. Showcases can be loaned for use to PoS manager by a loan company, an intermediary, a trademark owner manufacturing the goods that are displayed in the refrigerated showcase, or other subjects. If the owner of the refrigerated showcase is different from PoS manager, having a rough estimation of daily sales volumes, without the need to know cash flow, is interesting, in that cash flow is a confidential data of PoS manager. In fact, the owner of the refrigerated showcase is interested in knowing whether the refrigerated showcase leads to economically interesting sales volumes. Loan companies, or consumer goods manufacturers owning refrigerated showcases fleets, on the basis of estimated sales volumes (without the need to know cash flow), can implement showcases management policies: e.g. they can decide to remove and/or move their showcases from/in PoS leading to lower sales volumes, and to potentiate the presence of their showcases in PoS leading to a bigger sales volume.

[0013] Moreover, if good percentage of the customers of the PoS agreed to the transmission of data from their portable device, for each refrigerated showcase/area of refrigerated showcases a calculation can be provided, taking into account the number of the customers who entered the area of the showcase/s and the number of customers who indeed opened the door of the showcase/s. This constitutes a very good index for evaluating whether the showcase/s is/are placed in a remunerative location, or whether they should preferably moved to a more remunerative area.

[0014] An aim of the present invention is providing a system and a method for gathering information about the working of a fleet of refrigerated showcases, and save them in a remote databank to implement the management of fleets of refrigerated showcases avoiding high hardware investments and allowing to estimate the sales volumes of different products stored in the showcases.

[0015] According to a first aspect of the present invention, a refrigerating showcase is provided according to the combination of features of the preamble and of the characterizing part of claim 1.

[0016] According to claim 1, none of the refrigerated showcases need to be provided with an own geolocation system, but the geolocalizzazione is carried out by using the GPS hardware and software already provided in the portable devices, such as the smartphones of the clients approaching the refrigerated showcases.

[0017] By choosing short range communication protocols such as NFC or Bluetooth® the radiocommunication unique identifiers associated to each refrigerated showcase are read by the portable devices of the clients approaching the refrigerated showcase, and the position of the portable device determined by its own GPS on board unit is associated with the univocal ID of the showcase. The position of the portable device is set as the position of the showcase.

[0018] Nowadays, the geolocation is possible not only using GPS, but as explained in e.g. the article https://it.businessinsider.com/android-ti-spia-sa-dove-sei-anche-col-gps- spento-e-registra-audio-e-video-a-tua-insaputa/, the geolocation is possible also combining Wi-Fi data (data coming from various access points inside a building), signals from various cells of the public cellular phone network. This allows to get a general information about the position without using expensive, dedicated hardware for GPS.

[0019] In particular, supposing that out of 10 customers, just one has GPS signal and Bluetooth ® active on her/his smartphone, that customer allows to geolocate the position of a given showcase (maybe when leaving a given building), but thanks to the data correlated to Bluetooth® data, it is possible to know the position of the other 9 customer who only have active Bluetooth® on their smartphones.

[0020] It is apparent that, in the case of a plurality of refrigerated showcases installed in the same PoS, each showcase has a unique identifier, which is transmitted with relevant data.

[0021] The communication device of the showcase may be a very simple beacon which is configured to transmit a predetermined identification code and other data such as the number of door openings or temperature and humidity data in the showcase which has been measured by corresponding sensors, the said sensors being connected to data input ports of the said beacon.

[0022] Each smartphone or portable device is configured to execute an application, which is loaded and installed in the said smartphone or portable device. The said application configures the smartphone to carry out the functions of receiving the identification code and the data from the communication device of the refrigerated showcase and to transmit the said identification conde and the said data to a remote server or to a cloud server.

[0023] According to a further embodiment which allows to further spare hardware expenses, each show case is provided with a lighting system of the goods arranged in the refrigerated showcase, capable of providing additional performances, like providing information such as

- Temperature;

- Humidity;

- Number of times wherein the door was opened in a unit time;

- Malfunctions;

- Weight of the content of the showcase;

- Position of the showcase itself;

- Other information coming from other sensors that can be added, like accelerometers about vibrations, etc.

[0024] According to an embodiment, the lighting system comprises a body housing, one or more light sources, a control unit for feeding the electric power to the said light sources, and in combination one or more sensors and units chosen from a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor; a door opening sensor; weight of the content of the showcase; a diagnostic unit and a radiocommunication unit for transmitting the measured data to at least one portable device.

[0025] In this case, no specific electric feeding units are necessary for the sensors and the above listed units, which can be housed inside the body or case of the lighting unit.

[0026] According to still a further embodiment, each opening/closing action of the door is recorded and the number of such actions over a certain time period is sent to a remote server. The data is transmitted to at least one portable device or at least one smartphone approaching the showcase, and sent by the said portable device or smartphone to the remote server.

[0027] As it appears from the above, not only the geolocation hardware is not included in the showcases, but neither the network for communicating the data received form a showcase to the remote server is the GSM or GPRS network or the wi-fi network to which the portable device or the smartphone belongs.

[0028] According to a further embodiment, a combination of at least one showcase, at least one portable device such as a smartphone and at least one remote server is provided, in which the remote server executes a software program comprising the instructions configuring the said server to carry out statistical evaluation of the data relating the number of opening and closing actions of the showcase door over a certain time period in order to statistically determine the number and kind of picked up products in the said time period and determining if replenishment actions has to be carried out.

[0029] According to an embodiment, the remote server can be a server communicating directly with the portable device or with the smartphone. In a variant embodiment, the remote server can be a cloud server or still another variant provides for a remote server retrieving the data about the number of opening/closing actions of the door of a certain showcase from the cloud.

[0030] According to an embodiment, the remote server managing the show case or the showcases comprises a statistical unit which carries out a statistical estimation or prediction of the number of picked up products of every different kind of products that are contained in each showcase based on average data about the consumer behaviour. According to this calculation, the managing remote server can indicate an estimation about how much of a certain product has been picked up from the showcase and from these data it is possible to determine if a replenishment of the showcase is necessary.

[0031] According to a further feature, the remote server managing the showcase or the showcases is provided with an automatic alert unit generating messages or delivery orders to a replenishment department which is responsible for delivering the products for replenishment of the showcase to each showcase.

[0032] According to a further embodiment, the automatic alert unit also has an automatic map generating unit providing a map of the locations of the showcases which requires replenishment according to the estimation carried out by the statistical unit.

[0033] A variant embodiment provides not only the said map but also the track to be followed optimized according to estimated solutions of the traveling salesman problem.

[0034] Examples of estimation algorithm for determining the kind of product to be replenished and/or the optimized track are predictive algorithm such as neural networks or the like.

[0035] The prediction of the distribution of the kind of products being picked up can be also carried out as a function of consumer behaviour determined in relation to the position of the showcase in a certain territory where certain socio-cultural conditions are present. Information about the customer behaviour can also be acquired by using the knowledge about the user whose portable device or smartphone has been authorised to be used for communicating with the showcase and running the application for collecting the data from the showcase and transmitting the said data to the cloud or to the remote server.

[0036] According to the above features, the present invention provides a system and a method for managing a plurality of showcases distributed over a predetermined territory.

[0037] For the store manager and/or the owner of the showcase, knowing the number of times the showcase is opened for goods pick-up by customers can be interesting. Statistically, hypothesizing a reasonable probability between the number of openings that lead to a pick-up for sale, and the number of openings that only lead to a vision of a product without sale, there can be a substantial correlation between sales volume and number of door openings. Multiplying the number of daily door openings by the average value of the displayed product, with some statistical correction factors, which can e.g. presumed according to actual sales in the PoS (maybe on a monthly basis), one can have an approximate estimation of the daily sales volume, without the need to detect daily cash flow.

[0038] Combining estimated daily sales volumes (without the need to know cash flow) with geolocation of the single showcases, and with information on anomalies of temperature, humidity and vibrations, the owner or the manager of refrigerated showcases fleets would have a valid instrument for e.g. move the showcases from a noneffective PoS to another, more promising, PoS. In some cases the movements can be decided minimizing the transport time between the starting and arriving location, and while the assistance staff is already out, their movement can be optimized with an algorithm for optimizing paths (e.g. a travelling salesman algorithms). In addition, emergency maintenance interventions can be performed by staff where showcases undergo anomalous vibrations or went out of temperature thresholds, with the risk of compromising the preservation of displayed goods (e.g. melting ice-creams).

[0039] The present invention relates also to a system comprising a combination of:

- At least a showcase;

- At least a sensor for detecting temperature and/or humidity inside said showcase;

- An accelerometer allowing to detect the number of showcase door openings;

- A sensor for detecting the weight of the content of the showcase;

- A memory for storing a univocal identification code of the said showcase;

- A system allowing geolocation,

- And in which the system allowing geolocation is a GPS unit of at least one portable device or a smartphone of at least one user which is provided in combination with the said at least one showcase while the said at least one showcase further comprises a radio communication unit receiving the data from the said sensors and accelerometer and transmitting the said data and the said identification code to the said at least one portable device or smartphone,

- The said at least one portable device or smartphone being connected by a GSM or GPRS network or by a wi-fi network to at least one managing server; - The said at least one portable device or one smartphone being configured to transmit the said data and the said identification code received from the said portable device or the said smartphone combined with the geolocation data of the said portable device or the said smartphone to the said remote server;

- The said remote server comprising:

- A user behaviour database in which the consumer behaviours of different users are stored as the function of a user identification code or of the place where a certain showcase is positioned;

- A statistical computation unit executing a statistical or predictive algorithm for determining the kind of products being picked up from the number of door opening and/or closing events over a certain time period.

[0040] The Present invention relates also to a method comprising the following steps:

- Installing one or more refrigerated showcases according to the present invention in a PoS;

- Detecting through a geolocation device of a portable device or of a smartphone of at least one user coming into the radio communication range of a radiocommunication unit of a showcase the position of the showcase and preparing a map of the location of said showcases;

- Detecting data like temperature, humidity, number of door openings in a time unit, malfunctioning, optionally other information coming from other sensors;

- Transmitting such data to a remote server, preferably a cloud, through the portable device or through the smartphone of at least one user;

- Performing interventions of management, refilling and maintenance of said showcases according to gathered data by predicting the need of such interventions by means of statistical algorithm or predictive algorithm as a function of the number of door opening and or closing events and the consumer behaviour of the user in the territory where the showcase is placed or of the portable device or smartphone user.

[0041] According to an embodiment, said information can be transmitted wirelessly to a portable device, such as a smartphone or a tablet.

[0042] According to an alternative embodiment, said information can be wirelessly transmitted from the showcase to a gateway.

[0043] The application software gathering information from said refrigerated showcase and transmitting it wirelessly can be used by PoS manager, lessee staff, displayed goods manufacturer staff, or cooling system assistance staff, or to consumers using said refrigerators.

[0044] Therefore, it is apparent that the system according to the present invention provides devices for acquiring data transmitted by showcases and the distribution of said data to a unit for gathering, saving and accessing them that is in a cloud. The persons who approach said showcases within a range suitable for acquiring the data transmitted by showcases are already provided with said devices for other aims and/or functions; said devices are already connected to a wireless network. Therefore, there is no need to build an ad hoc network to transfer the data of single showcases to the gathering, saving and accessing unit in the cloud.

[0045] In particular, thanks to this embodiment, the data coming from showcases are accessible after sundry users enter their own credentials, e.g. for performing the above- described activities and concerning statistical marketing queries and/or functional control of showcases and/or surveillance of showcases against abuses.

[0046] Analogously, using an already existing hardware infrastructure, showcases data can be transmitted through a wired communication network, transmitting data to a gateway, which in its turn transmits them to a gathering, saving and accessing unit in the cloud.

[0047] A possible example of wired network is the exploitation of the electrical supply network for communication. The signal transmitted by a network card e.g. of Ethernet or the like type is galvanically freed, modulating the data of single showcases in transmission and demodulating it in reception on the network signal as a carrier. The signal codifying showcases data is then electromagnetically modulated on the carrier made of network signal.

[0048] Further advantages and properties of the present invention are disclosed in the following description, in which exemplary embodiments of the present invention are explained in detail based on the drawing:

Figure 1 Axonometric view of a refrigerated showcase; Figure 2 Schematic representation of a first embodiment of showcase;

Figure 3 Schematic representation of a second embodiment of showcase;

Figure 4 Block diagram of a system comprising a combination of

Showcase, smartphone and remote server;

Figure 5 Flux diagram of an embodiment of the method according to the present invention.

[0049] Figure 1 shows a refrigerated showcase 11 comprising a body 1 supporting a plurality of shelves 3 for supporting (not shown) goods on sale. Said showcase 11 is provided with a (not shown) cooling system and with a transparent door 2, so that customers can decide which good they want to buy before opening said door 2: this has the advantage of minimizing the time when the door is open, with obvious benefits in term of electric power consumption.

[0050] Moreover, the refrigerated showcase 11 comprises at least one or preferably two LED bars 4 for lighting the goods supported by shelves 3. It is worthwhile noting that Figure 1 shows a preferred embodiment of the present invention, wherein said LED bars 4 are vertical, parallel to the longitudinal axis of the showcase 11 and on the front of the showcase itself. It is apparent that a plurality of bars can be placed in other areas of the showcase, e.g. placed immediately under each shelf.

[0051] Said LED bars 4 must be electrically supplied to light goods, and therefore can advantageously host one or more sensors, which in their turn need to be electrically supplied.

[0052] A sensor can detect the temperature inside the showcase 1 1; a sensor can detect the level of humidity inside the showcase 11.

[0053] An optional sensor can detect the weight of the content of the showcase; if present, this can allow with much more certainty to gather information about the product which was picked by a customer, assuming that each kind of products has a weight different from the others.

[0054] Advantageously, in an embodiment the detecting system can be provided with an acoustic and/or visual alarm, which triggers when the temperature and/or the level of humidity exceeds a predefined threshold.

[0055] In an embodiment, polychromatic LEDs capable of assuming different colours according to the supplied signal are arranged in said LED bar 4. The transmission of wireless data from sensors to a remote system, cloud, portable device, central server can be correlated to a local visual communication associated to said refrigerated showcase and visually recognizable by the user in the form of a coloured light signal by at least a part of the LEDs forming said bar 4. In this way, one or more sensor, a portion of reading, processing/interpreting and transmitting electronics of the signal to remote devices, and a portion of visualization of the status of the showcase detected by the sensors and processed by processing electronics are associated to said LED bar 4.

[0056] Moreover, in an embodiment said LED bar 4 comprises an accelerometer capable of detecting acceleration that, through a suitable algorithm, can be converted identifying the number of opening/closing of the door 2, and a memory capable of recording the number of door openings in a time unit and to transfer to portable or fixed devices.

[0057] Obviously, staff must open the door in order to supply the showcase with goods. Advantageously, in a preferred embodiment, staff can reset the memory containing the number of door openings, so that the counted number of openings concerns only the openings performed by customers.

[0058] Concerning malfunctioning, a sensor can detect that the door 2 remained open, and transmit this datum to the memory contained in the showcase 11.

[0059] In an embodiment, said parameters (temperature, humidity and number of openings of the door) are sent through a wireless device 12 to a portable device 21 like a smartphone or a tablet inside a predefined distance from the refrigerated showcase 11, e.g. within 5 metres. Said wireless device 12 is provided with an app capable to perform a query on the detecting system of showcase 11.

[0060] Said app is a software capable of receiving said information, showing them on the display of the portable device, and saving statistics concerning said information.

[0061] In an alternative embodiment, the same information can be sent wirelessly to a fixed device 31 like a router and/or a gateway.

[0062] In both cases, said portable device 21, or said fixed device 31, in its turn transmits them to a remote server, preferably a cloud 22, 32, through a Wi-Fi/GPRS signal or another data transmission protocol through public network. [0063] In this context, cloud indicates a type of Internet-based computing that provides shared computer processing resources and data to computers and other devices on demand. It is a model for enabling ubiquitous, on-demand access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., computer networks, servers, storage, applications and services), which can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort.

[0064] Even in the case of transmission to a cloud 22, 32, the cloud itself comprises a software capable of receiving said information, showing said information on the display of an informatics device like e.g. a personal computer, and saving statistics concerning the information itself.

[0065] Said information can be sent in a continuous way both to said portable device 21 and to the fixed device 31, or can be saved in a memory placed inside the showcase itself. In this second case, the information saved in the memory are transmitted to the portable device or to the fixed device as an answer to a query.

[0066] In an embodiment, the group comprising one or more sensors and the device 12 for transmitting information are placed inside LED bar 4 and are electrically supplied by the same wires supplying said LED bar 4.

[0067] In an alternative embodiment, the group comprising one or more sensors and the device 12 for wirelessly transmitting information are electrically independent from LED bar 4 and can optionally be electrically supplied through a battery.

[0068] Concerning geolocation, two embodiments are possible:

- A first embodiment uses a portable device 21 (Figure 2);

- A second embodiment uses a gateway 31 (Figure 3). A gateway is a computing unit provided with digital input and output ports, and the possibility to connect, wirelessly and wiredly, according to different standards.

[0069] The first embodiment is shown in Figure 2. The showcase 11 is provided with a device 12 capable of emitting a wireless signal (e.g. Bluetooth®, ZigBee, Wi-Fi), which is transmitted to a portable device 21 (smartphone, tablet, etc.). Data transmission, symbolized by arrow 23, can occur only when said portable device 21 is within a range of some metres with respect to showcase 1 1, compatibly with the features of the device 12 emitting the wireless signal. [0070] Said portable device 21 is provided with a (not shown) app, which allows to visualize the data concerning temperature, humidity, number of door openings in a time unit, malfunctioning on the display of the portable device itself.

[0071] Moreover, said portable device 21 is typically provided with a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver capable of providing the geolocation of a user with a precision of some metres. It is to be noted that, when showcase 11 and portable device 21 are indoors, the GPS system might not work properly.

[0072] Without loss of generality, data transmission can occur according to the last acquired GPS position, or in the moment when the owner of the portable device 21 gets outdoor and GPS geolocation starts working again.

[0073] The app uploaded on the portable device 21 in its turn transmits the signal concerning temperature, humidity, number of door openings in a time unit, malfunctioning, geolocation data of showcase 11 to a cloud server 22, wherein the same data are saved and from which they can be downloaded for remote visualization. The data are sent from the portable device 21 to cloud 22 in the form of data connection signals like Wi-Fi and/or GPRS or another data transmission protocol through public network.

[0074] Having the consensus to the use of GPS geolocation, the use of radio signals transmitted by said refrigerated showcase (e.g. Bluetooth®) and consensus of information through Wi-Fi/GPRS or another data transmission protocol through public network, said app uploaded on said portable device 21 can receive the wireless signal 23 coming from refrigerated showcase 11 and transmit it to cloud 22.

[0075] It is worth noting that said portable device 21 can belong to persons making part, latu sensu, of the sales organization, like PoS staff, staff employed by the owner of showcase fleet, staff for the maintenance and/or refilling of showcases. Nonetheless, in an embodiment, even the consumers frequenting the PoS can be involved in the detection network, of course upon agreement by the consumer her/himself. The app uploaded on the portable device 21 also has the characterization of users profile of: PoS manager, maintenance worker, lessee, manufacturer of the products displayed in the showcase, consumer to whom an app was given, and to which the consumer agreed, possibly purchase profile of the consumer. [0076] This last case is particularly relevant, in that the consumer provided with an app, on one hand actively cooperates to the good management of showcases fleet, and can contribute to indirectly estimate sales volumes, and on the other hand can be an address for transmitting promotional and advertising messages issued by e.g. one of the manufacturers displaying products in the refrigerated showcase. Purely by way of example, on the portable device of a consumer passing by a refrigerated showcase displaying ice-creams, the following message could appear: "It's 100 degrees outside. Why not cool down with an ice-cream?" or a message attracting customer's attention on promotions concerning goods displayed in the refrigerated showcase.

[0077] With this embodiment, remarkable savings can be obtained, in that refrigerated showcases can even not be provided with a GPS sensor, but geolocation can occur through the cooperative management through the many portable devices 21 that can be near the refrigerated showcase itself, while the devices 21 can transmit advertising messages. This without additional hardware for GPS geolocation and data transmission on a public network. In this way, also the configuration of a Wi-Fi connection, or the subscription to data transmission traffic of a public network is saved.

[0078] Operating with a consensus system, which requires a consensus by the single user for performing at various levels the activities of the portable device 21 concerning the acquisition of showcases data and their transmission, directly or through gateway to the cloud server, the acquisition of data from single showcases or the reception of information messages from the user, as above described, can occur in a fully automated way. This occurs when a user provided with a portable device 21, on which a specific app for detecting, acquiring data transmitted by showcases and transmitting them to the cloud server enabled by the user, approaches a showcase at a distance suitable for triggering the communication wireless link between said showcase, i.e. the wireless device 12, and the portable device 21 of the user. In this way, the activity of detection, acquisition and transmission of data to the cloud occurs without the need that the user starts the specific app.

[0079] On said cloud 22 a data structure is prepared, recording at least:

- GPS coordinates of the portable device 21 (near to refrigerated showcase 11);

- Date and time of the last wireless signal received; - Temperature;

- Humidity;

- Update of the progressive count of the number of door openings of the refrigerated showcase.

Such table can be downloaded and visualized on suitable portable or fixed devices by PoS manager and/or manager/owner of showcase fleet, and/or maintenance staff, and/or provider of the products displayed in the showcases.

[0080] The second embodiment is shown in Figure 3. In this embodiment, the data concerning temperature, humidity, number of door openings in a time unit, malfunctioning, are transmitted (arrow 33) by a firmware inside the showcase through a wireless device 12 (e.g. Bluetooth®, ZigBee, Wi-Fi) to a gateway 31 placed near showcase 11. It is worth noting that a unique gateway could be associated to a plurality of showcases 11 placed in the same area, all of them inside the transmission range of the wireless device 12 inside each showcase; indicatively, the range of transmission can be around 30-80 metres. Data are successively transmitted (arrow 34) from gateway 31 to cloud 32 through data connecting signals like Wi-Fi and/or GPRS or another data transmission protocol through public network.

[0081] In the case of use of a gateway 31, geolocation can occur according to two distinct embodiments:

- In a first modality, like said portable device 21, gateway 31 can be provided with a GPS device, too, and allow the geolocation of the showcase 11. This has the advantage that, in the case of a gateway 31 associated to a plurality of showcases 11, the GPS device is only one, and this allows to save on the number of components.

- In a second modality, gateway 31, having a unique IP (Internet Protocol address), allows its geolocation in space with a precision of around 30 km.

[0082] It is apparent that the first modality, making use of a gateway 31 is more expensive than the second modality, in that in the first modality said gateway 31 has to be provided with a GPS device. Nonetheless, it is likewise apparent that the first modality allows a geolocation much more precise than the second modality. It is worth noting that indoor the GPS device might not work. [0083] In all the three embodiments here described, the data concerning temperature, humidity, number of door openings in a time unit, malfunctioning, showcase geolocation are saved in a database placed in a cloud server 32. Information can be downloaded and visualized on the display of a portable device or a PC for the remote control of the working of showcases 11 in a dashboard containing the working statistics of the showcase.

[0084] In the present invention, a preferred embodiment was described in the form of vertical showcases like the type described in EP3053487, but the fact that the teachings of this application can be easily applied to horizontal refrigerated cabinets like those described in EP0962729 is obvious to the skilled man.

[0085] An example of an embodiment of a system according to the present invention is shown in Figure 4. A showcase 400 is provided in combination with a temperature sensor 401, a humidity sensor 402, a door opening and/or closing sensor 403, a content weight sensor, and a memory 404 in which a univocal identification code of the showcase is stored. A radiocommunication unit 405 under control of a CPU unit 406 collects the data from the sensors 401 to 403 and from the memory 404 and transmits the said data.

[0086] As already disclosed above, the radio-communication unit is preferably a short- range transmitting and receiving unit such that the radio-signals can be received only by a receiving unit that is within a certain distance range from the showcase 400.

[0087] A portable device of a user, such as for example a smartphone 410 comprises a receiving unit 415 and a transmit unit 416. The data from the showcase are transmitted to the receive unit 415 and under control of the CPU 413 are associated with the GPS data 414 of the portable device, data on the consumer 411 and transmitted to a remote server via a transmit unit 416. The said process is carried out under the control of an application 412, which is loaded and executed by the CPU 413.

[0088] As it is indicated by the arrow in dotted line, the portable device or the smartphone 410 may also transmit data to a receiving unit 407 of the showcase.

[0089] An embodiment of the remote server is shown comprising a CPU 423 carrying out a managing program which configures the said server for carrying out the functions of receiving data from at least one portable device or smartphone 420 by means of a transmit/receive unit 421. The said data is processed in order to determine the position of the showcase in the territory, the customer owning the smartphone 410 and the data of the sensors. When data about opening and/or closing events of the door of the showcase over a certain time period are present, the said data is processed by an estimation of prediction algorithm 426 in order to generate as an output an estimation of the distribution of the picked-up products 422, a map of the different showcases on the territory for which the data is available, and an optimized track for visiting each one of the different showcases for carrying out refilling or maintenance activities.

[0090] The algorithm may estimate the picked-up product distribution based on the number of door opening/closing events recorded and on the consumer behaviour of the consumers in the region where the showcase is positioned and/or as a function of the owner of the portable device or smartphone which has received the data from the showcase and have transmitted the said data to the server 420.

[0091] According to an embodiment, the algorithm may be a predictive algorithm such as a neural network which may be trained and tested by using a database of data relating to the correlation between door opening/closing events and kind of product picked up at each event based on empirically recorded data. Since the data of several showcases distributed over a certain territory can be transmitted and received by the server 420, using the geolocation information of each portable device or each smartphone, which has communicated with a certain showcase, it is possible to generate a map of the various showcases. Basing on this map using an estimation of the solution of the traveling salesman problem, for example by means of a predictive algorithm such as a classification algorithm or a predictive algorithm it is possible also to generate a track for the persons traveling to the showcases optimized in relation to times and path.

[0092] The estimation of the distribution of the picked-up products can be determined as a function of the consumer database in which the behaviour of the consumer in certain geographic areas is recorded.

[0093] According to a further embodiment, the present invention is not limited to showcases in commercial sites, but can be also applied to minibar in hotel rooms or the like.

[0094] In this case the estimated distribution of picked up products and the opening closing events of the door may be used for controlling the pick-up of products from the minibar and determining if refilling is needed.

[0095] As it appears clearly from Figure 4, the hardware expenses for determining the location of the showcases and for communicating the data about the showcase condition to the managing server is very low, since the system of the present invention makes use in a parasitic way of the hardware owned by the customer or users coming near to the showcases.

[0096] Of course, the installation of the application on the portable devices of the customers' needs be done by asking for an authorisation of the customer. In any case this authorisation can be easily obtained by cost reduction or particular promotions dedicated to the customer having granted the authorisation.

[0097] Statistical deviations due to the fact that some opening/closing events of the door of the showcases has been done by person not having authorised the use of their portable device can be accounted in the computation by estimating the ratio of customer having allowed to use their device as a part of the system according to the present invention relatively to the ones which have not granted any authorisation do to so.

[0098] According to a further embodiment, the smartphone or portable device may be provided in combination with a system, which controls further ambient conditions such as temperature, light, or other ambient conditions according to user defined settings. In this embodiment, the remote server or directly each of one or more units, which influences the ambient conditions, communicates with the portable device of the user. The application running on the said portable device sends driving data set by the user to lightning elements, environmental control apparati such as heating and or air conditioning apparati, and other devices in order to drive these devices according to predetermined settings of the user which are stored in the portable device.

[0099] Figure 5 shows a flux diagram of an embodiment of the method according to the present invention and being executed by the system disclosed above.

[00100] At step 500, the number of open close events of the door on a certain time period are determined. At step 501, further parameters such as temperature and/or humidity in the showcase are also determined. At step 502 this data is added to the showcase identification code, and transmitted 503 by a near filed or short-range radio communication device to at least one smartphone which comes within the said near field.

[00101] The above data is received by the smartphone at step 504 and the application of the smartphone adds to this data the information about the geolocation of the smartphone. At this step 505 this geolocation data is set as the geolocation data of the showcase.

[00102] At step 506 user data may be added to the geolocation data and this data is transmitted by the smartphone to the remote server at step 507 by using the network of the smartphone.

[00103] The server determines the geolocation data 508 out of the data received by the smartphone and the customer data 509 of the customer in the region where the showcase is located. Using this data at step 510, the distribution of the picked-up products is determined as a function of the opening and closing events of the door over a certain time period. At step 511, the method provides for looking whether information from other showcases is available.

[00104] When the information is gathered from every showcase which has sent data, a map of the showcases on the territory is generated at step 512.

[00105] From this map, an optimized path for visiting each of the showcases is determined as an estimated solution of the traveling salesman problem at step 513.

[00106] According to an embodiment, at least one or more weight sensors may be associated to one or more of the shelves of a showcase. Many different kinds of weight sensors may be provided. In a particular variant embodiment, load cells are used weight sensors.

[00107] In an embodiment, the said load cells are combined with the at least one LED bar, being the load cell powered by the same power supply unit of the LED bar. Different kinds of load cells are possible depending on the particular shape of the showcase or minibar and/or of the products associated to a shelf.

[00108] According to an example, one or more trays or containers are associated to one shelf, the tray and/or container having a predefined position on the shelf and for each of the trays and/or containers on a shelf or at least for some of them a dedicated load cell is provided on the shelf coinciding with the area where the bottom side of the tray or of the container adheres to the shelf. By picking up a product, the difference in weight is sensed by the corresponding load cell and the kind of product can be identified by the sensed weight difference due to a database correlating each product kind inside the showcase with its weight.

[00109] By providing different trays and containers each one dedicated to a specific product it is also possible to avoid uncertainties in the univocal product identification in the case different kinds of products have the same weight. The sensed weight difference is combined with the corresponding event of opening and/or closing the door of the showcase so that a precise estimation of the distribution of the picked-up products can be made by the remote server. Weight measures are transmitted to the portable device or the smartphone together with the other data according to the above described embodiments sent for processing to the remote server according to one or more of the previously described methods.

1 Showcase body

2 Transparent door

3 Shelves

4 LED bar

11 Refrigerated showcase

12 Sensor/s capable of wirelessly transmitting acquired data

21 Portable device

22 Cloud server

23 Arrow

24 Arrow

31 Gateway

32 Cloud

33 Arrow

34 Arrow

400 Showcase

401 Temperature Sensor

402 Humidity Sensor

403 Door opening/closing sensor

404 Identification code memory

405 Transmission unit

406 CPU

407 Receive unit

410 Portable Device or Smartphone

411 Consumer Data memory

412 Application

413 CPU

414 GPS unit 415 Receive unit

416 Transmit unit

420 Remote server

421 Receive/Transmit unit

422 Picked-up product distribution estimation

423 CPU

424 Track

425 Map

426 Algorithm

427 Consumer database

Claims

C L A I M S

Refrigerated showcase (11) comprising

- a body (1);

- at least a shelf (3) for supporting goods;

- a preferably transparent door (2),

- a (not shown) cooling system,

- at least a sensor capable of detecting at least one data chosen from the group consisting of temperature, humidity, number of door openings in a time unit, malfunctioning, weight of the content;

- a wireless device (12) for transmitting acquired data having a predetermined range of transmission;

characterized by

being provided with a geolocation system,

the geolocation system consisting in the geolocation system of at least one portable device or at least one smartphone of at least one user the said portable device or the said smartphone being provided in combination with the said refrigerated showcase,

the geolocation data of said portable device or the said smartphone being set as the geolocation data of the showcase when the said portable device or the said smartphone falls within the range of transmission of the show case.

Refrigerated showcase (1 1) according to claim 1, paired with an app for receiving and processing data concerning temperature, humidity, number of door openings, malfunctioning, weight of the content uploaded on a portable device (21) like a smartphone or a tablet within a range compatible with the transmission power of the wireless device (12) inside the showcase itself (11), said portable device (21) capable of estimating itsgeolocation through GPS, orWi-Fi, or signals strength coming from cells of a public cellular network, and adds the geolocation data obtained from the device to the data concerning temperature, humidity, number of door openings, malfunctioning, weight of the content of the showcase.

Refrigerated showcase (1 1) according to claim 2, wherein said portable device (21) transmits through Wi-Fi and/or GPRS or another data transmission protocol through public network optionally reprocessed data received from showcase (11), to a cloud (22) from which said data can be downloaded and/or visualized.

Refrigerated showcase (1 1) according to claim 1, wherein said showcase/s (1 1) is/are connected through said wireless device (12) to a gateway (31) capable of receiving signals.

Refrigerated showcase (11) according to claim 4, wherein data received by gateway (31) are transmitted to a cloud (32) from which said data can be downloaded and/or visualized.

Refrigerated showcase (1 1) according to one or more of the preceding claims characterized in that it is provided in combination with at least a lighting system of the goods arranged in the refrigerated showcase, the lighting system comprises a body housing, one or more light sources, and a control unit for feeding the electric power to the said light sources, and in combination one or more sensors and units chosen from a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor; a door opening sensor, a content weight sensor; a diagnostic unit and a radiocommunication unit for transmitting the measured data to at least one portable device.

Combination of at least one showcase according to one or more of the preceding claims with at least one portable device such as a smartphone and at least one remote server, the said combination being characterized in that the remote server executes a software program comprising the instructions configuring the said server to carry out statistical evaluation of the data relating the number of opening and closing actions of the showcase door over a certain time period in order to statistically determine the number and kind of picked up products in the said time period and determining if replenishment actions has to be carried out.

Combination according to claim 7, characterized in that the remote server managing the showcase or the showcases comprises a statistical unit which carries out a statistical estimation or prediction of the number of picked up products of every different kind of products which are contained in each showcase based on average data about the consumer behaviour.

Combination according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that the remote server managing the showcase or the showcases is provided with an automatic alert unit generating messages or delivery orders to a replenishment department which is responsible for delivering the products for replenishment of the showcase to each showcase.

Method for the remote management of a showcase (11) fleet comprising the following steps:

Installing one or more refrigerated showcases (11) according to claims 1-5 in a Point of Sale (PoS);

Detecting through a geolocation device of a plurality of portable devices or smartphones of users the position of showcase/s (11) and preparing a map of the placement of said showcases;

Detecting the data transmitted by a wireless device (12) inside said showcases (11) like temperature, humidity, number of door openings in a time unit, malfunctioning, content weight sensor, optionally other information coming from further sensors;

Transmitting said data to a remote server (22, 32), preferably a cloud server;

Visualizing/downloading said data on a device provided with a display;

Performing interventions of management, refilling and maintenance of said showcases according to gathered data.

Method for the remote management of a showcases fleet according to claim 6, wherein the geolocation of showcase/s (11) occurs through a GPS device placed in a mobile device (21) supported by a person who is at a distance from said showcases (1 1) compatible with the transmit power of the wireless device (12) inside said showcase, the portable device (21) sending in its turn said data to a remote server (22).

Method for the remote management of a showcases fleet according to claim 6, wherein the geolocation of showcase/s (11) occurs through a GPS device inside a fixed device (31) placed at a distance from said showcase/s compatible with the transmit power of the wireless device (12) inside said showcase, the fixed device (31) sending in its turn the data to a remote server (32).

Method for the remote management of a showcases fleet according to claim 6, wherein the geolocation of showcase/s (11) occurs through a unique IP (Internet Protocol) address associated to said fixed device (31) placed at a distance from said showcase/s compatible with the transmit power of the wireless device (12) inside said showcase, the fixed device (31) sending in its turn the data to a remote server (32).

Refrigerated showcase according to one or more of the preceding claims characterized in that it is a minibar of a hotel or similar and the smartphone is of a customer of the hotel room.

Combination according to claims 7 to 9 in which the showcase is a minibar of a hotel room.