Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
203~982
METHOD FOR SUPPLYING VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS OF LARGE SELF-
SERVICE STORES WITH DEPARTMENT-SPECIFIC INFORMATION
The Invention relates to a method for supplying various departments
of a large self-service store, equipped with a number of shopping carts, with
department-specific information.
In large self-service stores, customers are informed of particularly
attractive offers, special sales, new products, and so forth in centrally
controlled announcements over the loudspeaker. These loudspeaker
1C announcements are often repeated ceaselessly, always in the same order,
and so over the long run are not only annoying but in fact, by their constant
repetition, create an increasing distaste on the part of the customers hearing
them .
Meanwhile, some such stores also use transmitters in departments
that are to be supplied with specific information for that particular
department. From these transmitters, the information intended for the
particular department is transmitted wirelessly to receivers that are installed
on all the shopping carts in a such a store. The information received is then
acoustically reproduced over loudspeakers and/or shown on relatively large
screens, which are likewise provided on the shopping carts and are
connected to the receivers on the shopping carts.
However, to customers stopping in the various departments,
information announced over the shopping cart loudspeaker in these
departments is just as annoying as the central loudspeaker announcements.
When screens are attached to the pushbars of the shopping carts, their size
is a nuisance, on the one hand; on the other, the equipment for triggering
the screen and supplying it with the requisite energy requires considerable
space, so thus still further restricting the already relatively limited space inthe shopping cart.
Previously, the date absolutely required to prepare a so-
2032982
called customer route study have been collected with the aid of a more or less
large number of persons for an appropriate period of time, either by
observing individual customers or by polling them, making it possible to
learn for instance what route the individual customer takes through the self-
service store; whether he will frequent, or has frequented, certain so-called
service shops; how long he stayed in the various departments; and so forth.
The facts gained by observation or polling are then recorded on prepared
questionnaires or in table form or dictated onto tape, for example.
The preparation alone, not to speak of later carrying out such studies
in the form of observations, polling and the like, is not only extremely time-
consuming and thus labor-intensive, but in such polls of customers, one
must also depend very heavily on the good will and cooperation of the
individual customer and on his readiness to answer the questions asked
with the necessary accuracy and detail. Despite the heavy expenditure of
time and labor needed, the facts and results obtained in this way still have a
variable amount of intrinsic uncertainty; the customer route study to be
prepared, or prepared later, therefore necessarily often produces incorrect
results that do not fully correspond to actual facts.
It is therefore the object of the invention to create means for supplying
various departments of a large self-service store equipped with a number of
shopping carts with department-specific information, in which quite
carefully aimed information that can be quickly changed, is made
individually accessible to each customer of the store in the various
departments, and in which information, every time it is effectively output,
may optionally be store in memory.
In addition to the display of department-specific
~
// -2-
.~,~
203~982
information, the route taken by each of the shopping carts
used by customers-of such a store and optionally the period
of time each of these cards remains in individual
departments should also be reliably ascertA i neA and
recorded.
The invention provides means for supplying various
departments of a large self-service store equipped with a
number of shopping carts with department specific
information. Infrared transmitter/receivers having memory
are located in different departments of the store.
Separably transportable h~n~eld unit means are provided
for transmitting information specific to each of the
different departments to the memory for loading by a first
infrared path. A computer is connected to the separably
transportable hAn~hald unit means for creating the
information specific to each of the different departments
for input into the separably transportable h~n~eld unit
means and transmission to the memory. Transmitter/
receivers have a second infrared path which outputs the
information specific to each of the departments in a
predetermined cycle. Infrared receiver/transmitters having
displays are also mounted on the shopping carts and are
located on a front upper edge of baskets of the shopping
carts, opposite and below pushbars, in a field of view of
costumers, for receiving the department-specific
information over the second infrared path and visually
playing it back.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, all the
information specific to a department can be stored in a
memory, for example in a memory diskette, in a
transmitter/receiver unit that is associated with the
particular department and hence is decentralized. The
information stored in decentralized fashion is then output
serially over an infrared path in the region of the
particular department at a specific predetermined cycle,
for example with a transmission rate of 125 kilobits per
second.
._
2032982
The information transmitted to the region of the
particular department i8 then received by receiver/
transmitter unit~ on the shopping carts located there,
stored bitwise in a buffer memory provided in each
receiver/transmitter and then made vi~ible to the customer
by playback on a preferably four-line display in each of
the receiver/transmitters located in this department. The
receiver/transmitters with di~play are preferably mounted
in the field of view of the cu~tomer, on the top front edge
of the basket of the shopping cart. Here the department-
specific information
/ / /
,,
.
_ . , .
203291~3~
is generally shown only once on the display of the receiver/transmitter
mounted on the shopping cart during the time a customer spends in that
department .
It is also assured in thc mcthod of the invention, by suitable
monitoring and by the transmission mode used, that the information offered
will always be received in such a way that it is played back on the dislplay
only once, from the beginning, without any omissions or truncations. For
instance, the information received is canceled from the memory of the
receiver/transmitter after a certain period of time, or it may remain stored in
the memory of the receiver/transmitter for possible repetition until such time
as the customer pushes the shopping cart into some other department.
Preferably at about the same time as or immediately after each visual
playback of information on a display, a preferably encoded signal indicating
this output of information can be transmitted by infrared rays to the
department transmitter/receiver, recorded there and stored in such a way
that it can be called up again. In other words, in the method of the
invention, each time information is played back in full on a display, the signaltransmitted by infrared light provides confirmation and thus a return
acknowledgement that the information specific to this department was not
only received by the receiver/transmitter mounted on each shopping cart but
was also visibly displayed thereon.
The number of confirmation signals received in each department is
recorded in decentralized fashion and stored - provided with a department-
specific code - in such a way that it can be called up. From the confirmation
signals, which can be called up by means of a handheld unit, a kind of log is
thus created, from which it can for instance be learned how often
continuously output information has in fact been passed on to
2032982
-
customers over the displays on the shopping carts.
Furthermore, the receiver/transmitters provided on the shopping carts
are provided with a code number, which is either automatically broadcast or
sampled by activation of all the transmitter/receivers that are installed in
sampling locations of the store of interest in terms of a customer route. The
time and date of reception can be assigned to all the information broadcast
by the receiver/transmitters, including the code number, or all the
information received in the receiver/transmitters. Especially from the
assignment of the time of reception to the code number of a
receiver/transmitter, a conclusion can for instance be drawn as to how long
a customer remains in certain departments, or under some circumstances
how long the customer looks at specific articles or groups of articles.
Finally, a location identification code can also be allocated to the
transmitter/receivers disposed in decentralized fashion, and this code is
likewise broadcast over the infrared path to each of the receiver/transmitters
that reach the region of the infrared path of such a transmitter/receiver. In
that case, the receiver/transmitters mounted on the shopping carts are then
also each equipped with a memory to store location identification codes. In
that case, appropriate sampling or scanning devices need to be provided
only at the exit, for instance, or preferably in the region of the cash
registers; by means of these devices, the data temporarily stored in the
receiver/transmitters of the shopping cart are sampled and transferred to the
transmitter/receivers. All these extracted data can then be passed on, for
instance directly to a central memory, or collected in a local memory and
from it sent at regular intervals for evaluation and further processing. Once
the data have been extracted from the memory of the receiver/transmitter
mounted on the shopping carts, this memory is erased again, making
203Z9F~2
it immediately ready for use once again and capable of again storing data.
The invention will now be described in further detail in terms of a
preferred embodiment, referring to the accompanying drawings. Shown are:
Fig. 1, schematically, a transmitter/receiver unit provided in a
department, and a receiver/transmitter unit with display provided on a
shopping cart;
Fig. 2a, a schematic view of a receiver/transmitter with display in a
front view;
Fig. 2b, a sectional view through the receiver/transmitter of Fig. 2a;
Fig. 3, schematically, a handheld unit communicating with a
transmitter/receiver; and
Fig. 4, schematically, a computer and printer arrangement connected
to a handheld unit.
First, the principles of an information system operating by the method
of the invention, with which a self-service market is for instance made
capable of informing its customers at the so-called P.O.P. (point of purchase)
will be described. To this end, information from transmitter/receiver units
51~5n~ installed at a height of from 2.5 to 4 m, each of them provided in n
departments 2 of the self-service market, is transmitted along with signals
for system control by infrared rays 6. This information is received by
receiver/transmitter units 81-8m mounted on shopping charts 71~7m and
displayed by means of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) 91-9m Of the
receiver/transmitters 81-8m. Each receiver/transmitter 8 with LCD 9 is
mounted for this purpose within the field of view of a customer, on the top
front edge of a basket 7c of each shopping cart 7. There are from one to
four lines, each for 40 alphanumeric characters per line, available in each
LCD 9, with one line displayed after another. The manager of
-6-
203Z9~2
-
the self-service market can decide whether and in what order the lines
should be repeated, whether a line should appear immediately or be
developed slowly, whether a line should flash, and/or whether an acoustical
signal should be generated before the information is displayed, or before
s each of the lines, or before individual lines.
A filing system can also be developed in the transmitter/receivers
51-5n mounted in the n departments 2, storing how often the information
transmitted has in fact been shown on a display 9. To this end, the
satisfactory reception and in particular the satisfactory playback of the
information on the display 9 is signaled to the applicable
transmitter/receivers 51~5n by the receiver/transmitters 8 mounted on the
shopping carts 7, over an infrared path 6'.
The time can also be recorded in the filing system every hour on the
hour; the filing system will also be hereinafter called the billing file, because
with its aid an advertiser can be billed, for instance in leasing to an
advertiser. The self-service store manager can for instance negotiate billing
to the advertiser selectively, on the basis of either the leased time or how
many displays are actually shown on the display equipment 9.
With the aid of the information system according to the invention, a
so-called electronic customer route study can be made. To this end, the
receiver/transmitters 8~-8m mounted on the shopping carts 71~7m~ with the
associated displays 91~9m~ are numbered continuously, electronically. The
number of each receiver/transmitter 8,-8m can be called up by the
transmitter/receivers 51~5n mounted in the n departments 2 and then is
stored in them along with the time and date, again in a filing system
hereinafter also called the acknowledgement file. By suitable installation of
the transmitter/receivers 51~5n in the n departments 2, it can thus be
ascertained when a given shopping
20329~2
cart 71~7m visited a given department.
The information system according to the invention comprises four
basic components, namely a computer in the form of a laptop 1, one or
more handheld units 3, a number n of transmitter/receiver units 51-5n to be
s mounted in the various departments, and a number m of
receiver/transmitters 8,-8m with LCD displays 91~9m provided in them, to be
installed on shopping carts 71~7m. The functions of the four basic
components of the information system will now be described in detail.
As can be seen from the schematic illustration in Fig. 4, the laptop 1
has a screen 1a, represented by a rectangle, and a merely schematically
shown control panel 1b. The laptop, which is an MS DOS-type computer,
for instance, comprises a 512kb main memory, a 20 megabyte hard disk,
and a 3.5 megabyte drive for 720 kb diskettes, again as an example. A
printer 1d is connected via a cable 1c to the laptop 1. The laptop 1 can be
connected to the handheld unit 3 over a further cable 1e.
With the aid of the software installed on the hard disk of the laptop 1,
a user, for instance the manager of a self-service store, a hypermarket and
the like can put the information intended for receiver/transmitters 81-8m
having the associated displays 91~9m into the desired form and with the
desired format. After formatting of the various information, it can also be
decided whether data for billing, on the basis of the information actually
displayed, and/or additional data for analysis should be collected in the
transmitter/receivers 51-5n installed in the n departments 2.
With the aid of a transmission command, the various information, and
formatting and operating instructions can be transmitted to the handheld
unit 3 over the cable 1e. From the handheld unit 3, the applicable
information and the corresponding instructions can be stored directly in one
of the
20329~2
transmitter/receivers 51~5n intended for this purpose in the n departments, or
in file cards 3b.
The handheld unit 3 with battery backup serves to exchange data
between the laptop 1 and the various transmitter/receivers 51~5n~ sO that
expensive hard wiring between a central station and the individual
transmitter/receiver units 51~5n is avoided. As shown in Figs, 3 and 4, a
display 3a, corresponding to the displays 9 of the receiver/transmitters 8, is
provided in the handheld unit 3. As indicated by a dot-dash arrow in Fig. 4,
a file card 3b can be selectively associated with the handheld unit 3.
As already mentioned, from the laptop 1, the formatted data are
transmitted over the cable le to the handheld unit 3. For monitoring
purposes, the information can be shown on the display 3a of the handheld
unit 3 immediately after inputting. The information can also be inscribed in a
data card 3b, for data protection.
As schematically shown in Fig. 3, from the handheld unit 3, the
information along with the formatting instructions is transmitted by means
of infrared rays 6' indicated by a dot-dash arrow, to the transmitter/receiver
unit 5 installed in the applicable department 2. For instance, a LED (not
shown) provided on the handheld unit 3 may indicate successful
transmission by lighting up in green, and by lighting up in red, an LED can
indicate defective transmission. In the latter case, the transmission should
naturally be repeated. As indicated by a dot-dash arrow 6", the information
that has just been fed into the transmitter/receiver 5 can likewise be called
up again from it by infrared for monitoring purposes.
The aforementioned billing file can also be called with the handheld
unit 3 from all the transmitter/receivers 51~5n at any time. In this case again,if an LED provided on the handheld unit 3 lights up in green, this indicates
satisfactory transmission.
20329~2
After a successful transmission, the data file in the applicable
transmitter/receiver 51~5n is suitably erased, so that it is then available onlyin the handheld unit 3. For reasons of security, the data file should therefore
be stored immediately in a data card 3b.
If the handheld unit 3 is to be used to prepare for an analysis, then
the transmitter/receivers 51~5n are numbered with sequential location
identification numbers, with the aid of the handheld unit 3, so that later, to
prepare the analysis, the location identification numbers of the various
transmitter/receivers 51~5n can be read out again. Sequential numbering of
all the transmitter/receivers 51~5n is absolutely necessary in order that the
data files stored in the various transmitter/receivers 51~5n can be assigned
perfectly to a specific point, that is, to a very specific department 2, in the
store layout of a self-service store, supermarket, hypermarket or the like.
The handheld unit 3 can also be used to adjust a clock provided in the
transmitter/receivers 51~5n at any time, via the infrared path 6', so that the
handheld unit 3 is also assigned the function of a master clock. Both to
prepare an analysis and merely for functional monitoring, the
acknowledgement data file prepared in the various transmitter/receivers 51-
5n can be called up at any time by these transmitter/receivers 51~5n~ output
to the handheld unit 3 via the infrared path 6", and suitably automatically
inscribed at the same time into a data card 3b.
The various transmitter/receivers 51-5n serve on the one hand to
transmit information to the receiver/transmitters 8,-8m, with the displays
91-9m provided in them, mounted on the shopping carts 71~7m~ and on the
other hand for developing the aforementioned billing and acknowledgement
data files. The various transmitter/receivers 51~5n are installed in the n
-10-
20329~
-
departments 2 for which they are specifically intended, for instance being
hung at a height of 2.5 to 4 m. Either a mains power unit (not shown) or a
charge unit (likewise not shown) is assigned to the transmitter/receivers
51-5n. In normal use, the transmitter/receivers 51~5n have a least
approximately four weeks of battery backup.
By means of the handheld unit 3, the information to be transmitted to
the particular department 2 is stored in the transmitter/receiver 5 provided
there. Once this has been done, the transmitter/receiver 5 automatically
begins to transmit both its number, in the form of the location identification
number, and the operating and formatting instructions. As soon as the
reception of the number and the other instructions has been acknowledged
by a receiver/transmitter unit 8 mounted on a shopping cart 7, then the
special information intended for the particular department is transmitted.
Satisfactory reception is then confirmed by the applicable
receiver/transmitter 8 or by means of the handheld unit 3. As already
mentioned, if necessary, a billing data file can be developed with these
confirmations, and can then be called up at any time using the handheld unit
3. The number of the applicable transmitter/receiver 51~5n~ in the form of its
location identification number, and the information broadcast to it are then
transmitted jointly, automatically, so as to preclude mistakes. (Once
satisfactory reception has been signaled by the handheld unit 3, the data file
that has just been called up is canceled in the applicable transmitter/receiver
unit 51~5n-)
In order to enable sending the same information even to departments
that cover a large area, ten transmitter/receivers 5 can for instance be wired
together, with any arbitrary transmitter/receiver unit 5 forming the starting
point. The rest of the transmitter/receivers 5 are then connected in series
via
203Z9~2
synchronizing cables to the transmitter/receiver 5 acting as the starting
point.
Each of the transmitter/receivers 51 ~ 5n can be used for pure analysis,
or for analysis combined with information transmission. To do so, however,
a memory expansion must be made for each transmitter/receiver 5~ sO that
the location identification number and the various operating and formatting
instructions can be programmed in along with the information, by means of
the handheld unit 3. As soon as the transmission from the handheld unit 3
to the applicable transmitter/receiver 5 has been effected, the
transmitter/receivers transmit both its number, in the form of the location
identification number, and the operating and formatting instruction. As soon
as these data have been acknowledged, with the code number of the unit,
by a receiver/transmitter unit 8 mounted on a shopping cart 7, the code
number of the acknowledging receiver/transmitter 8 is stored in memory
along with the time in the acknowledgement data file referred to initially.
Since information is generally stored in the applicable
transmitter/receiver 5, it is then transmitted to this receiver/transmitter 8
over the infrared path 6 (Fig. 1). (However, if the acknowledgement is
effected from a handheld unit 3, then nothing is stored in the
acknowledgement data file of the transmitter/receiver 5; instead, only the
information is transmitted. In that case, an indication is then made on the
handheld unit 3 that the transmitter/receiver 5 has been set to the analysis
mode.) The acknowledgement data files stored in memory in the
transmitter/receivers 51~5n can be read out by means of the handheld unit 3,
and are then automatically immediately recorded on a data card 3b. If there
is a computer-controlled linkage of all the acknowledgement data files, a
customer route study can then be made.
203291~Z
The display 9 provided in each receiver/transmitter 8 serves to display
the information transmitted by a transmitter/receiver 5. The
receiver/transmitters 8 also acknowledge satisfactory reception of the
operating and formatting instructions of the trarismitted information, along
with the code number of a particular unit, which was either assigned to it at
the factory or input by means of the handheld unit 3.
As can be seen from Figs. 2a and 2b, each receiver/transmitter 8 is
mounted inside a basket 7c of a shopping cart 7 (Fig. 1), on the top front
edge of the basket precisely opposite the pushbar 7a of each shopping cart
7, with the aid of a special tool (not shown) by means of a hook-like L-
shaped attachment 8c embodied on the back of its housing 8a, and is aimed
in such a way that the front 8b of the housing containing the display 9 in
the form of an LCD module is oriented toward the field of view of a
customer pushing the shopping cart 7, as indicated in Fig. 1 by an arrow 10.
Each receiver/transmitter 8 also has a printed wiring board 8d, suggested in
a sectional view, and an electronics module 8e. Each of the
receiver/transmitters 8 mounted on shopping carts 7 draws energy from
batteries, not shown further here, which are recharged by the ambient light
with the aid of solar cells, likewise not shown. As a result, every
receiver / transmitter unit 8 mounted on a shopping cart 7 and having a
display 9 is immediately ready for use.
As soon as a receiver/transmitter 8 enters the region of a
transmitter / receiver unit 5, the receiver/transmitter 8 acknowledges the
satisfactory reception of the operating and formatting instruction by
broadcasting its number. Typically, the transmitter/receiver 5 will then
broadcast the information stored in it, which is transmitted by infrared rays
6 to the receiver/transmitter 8 located in its vicinity and stored in that unit.
2032982
.
This means that the customer does not need to remain below a
transmitter/receiver 5 in order to receive the complete information. The
receiver/transmitter 8 checks for defective transmission of the information
and confirms it. Not until satisfactory reception of the information has been
5 confirmed by the receiver/transmitter 8 the information, transmitted over the
infrared path 6, is shown on its display 9 in accordance with the formatting
instructions.
To this end, in the receiver/transmitter 8, the information is shifted
into a shift register, for instance with a clock frequency of 16 kHz. After
10 every eight (8) bits of information shifted in, a clock pulse is generated, and
as a result this byte of information, now present in parallel form in the ASCII
format is shifted into the display 9. This course of events now takes place
another 79 times in succession, for example, so that in this case 80
alphanumeric characters are displayed, for instance in two lines. The output
formatting is generated by the electronics of the receiver/transmitter 8.
-14-
