EP0435225B1
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Method and device for supplying different departments of a self-service supermarket with information
Assignee: Systec Ausbausysteme GmbH
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Filing: 1990-12-21
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Granted: 1997-03-12
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Expires: 2010-12-21
Abstract
Abstract In a method for supplying different departments of a self-service supermarket equipped with a multiplicity of shopping trolleys with information specific to a department, each of these specific information elements of a specified length is stored decentrally in digital form in a transceiver unit (5) assigned to the respective department (2) and subsequently transmitted in a specified cycle in serial form via an infrared link (6). The information transmitted via the infrared link (6) is received by means of transceiver units (8), which are fitted to all shopping trolleys (7) of the supermarket, belonging to those shopping trolleys (7) which are located in the respective department (2), is temporarily stored in the transceiver units (8) and is then represented on a display (9) of the transceiver units (8). Furthermore, a code number is allocated to each transceiver unit (8) fitted to the shopping trolleys (7), which code number, immediately after each visual representation of information on the display (9) of the respective transceiver unit (8), is transmitted for confirmation purposes via the infrared link (6') to the transceiver unit (5) provided in the respective department (2), where it is recorded. The reception time and the date are allocated in the transceiver unit (5) to each received code number. <IMAGE>
Inventors
- 👤 Horst Sonnendorfer
- 👤 Franz Wieth
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-03 05:18
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06Q; G06Q30/00; G06Q30/06; B; B62; B62B; B62B3/00; B62B3/14; B62B3/1408; B62B3/142; B62B3/1424; G06F; G06F3/00; G06F3/14; G06F3/147; G09; G09G; G09G2380/00; G09G2380/04
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 11
Claim 1
Independent Claim
210 words
Method of supplying different departments of a self-service supermarket, which is equipped with a plurality of shopping trolleys, with data specific to a department, wherein a respective transmit-receive unit (5) is provided in each of the departments and a respective receive-transmit unit (8) with display device (9) is provided at each shopping trolley and the transmission is effected by means of infrared beams, characterised thereby that - each of the receive-transmit units (8) as soon as it comes into the range of a transmit-receive unit (5) confirms the correct reception by the transmit-receive unit (5) of the transmitted working and formatting instructions, - the specific information, which is provided for the respective department and which is decentrally, digitally stored in the corresponding department transmit-receive unit (5), is transmitted by way of a first infrared path (6), - the correct reception of the specific information, which is provided for a determined department, by the corresponding receive-transmit unit (8) is confirmed, and - the transmitted information is each time recorded, intermediately stored and reproduced each time on the display device (9) of the receive-transmit units (8), by means of the receive-transmit units (8), which are mounted at the shopping trolleys (7), of the shopping trolleys (9) located in the respective department (2).
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
62 words
Method according to claim 1, characterised thereby that directly after each reproduction of a specific information, which is intended for a determined department (2), on the display device (9) of the shopping trolley receive-transmit unit (8) a signal confirming this optical information reproduction is transmitted by way of a second infrared path (6') to the department transmit-receive unit (5) and registered there.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
55 words
Method according to claim 1, characterised thereby that the reproduction of the information, which is specific for a department (2), on the display device (9) of the shopping trolley receive-transmit unit (8) is so controlled with the aid of special recognition pulses that the respective information is always transmitted completely only from the start once.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
65 words
Method according to one of claims 1 and 2, characterised thereby that each of the shopping trolley receive-transmit units (8) is provided with a code number, and that each code number of the receive-transmit units (8) is automatically issued to all of those department transmit-receive units (5) which are placed at enquiry points, which are of interest with regard to customer movement, of the supermarket.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
60 words
Method according to one of claims 1 and 2, characterised thereby that each of the shopping trolley receive-transmit units (8) is provided with a code number and the code number is interrogated each time by all of those department transmit-receive units (5) which are placed at enquiry points, which are of interest with regard to customer movement, of the supermarket.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
52 words
Method according to one of claims 2, 4 and 5, characterised thereby that in the department transmit-receive units (5) the exact reception time instant with statement of date is associated with each signal which activates an optical reproduction and/or each received code number of one of the shopping trolley receive-transmit units (8).
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
113 words
Method according to one of claims 1 and 2, characterised thereby that each of the department transmit-receive units (5) which is placed at enquiry points, which are of interest with regard to customer movement, of the supermarket is provided with a location recognition code, that each of the department transmit-receiver units (5) delivers its location recognition code by way of the first infrared path (6) to each of the shopping trolley receive-transmit units (8) which come into the range of the respective infrared path (6) and that each received recognition code of a department transmit-receive unit (5) is stored in the shopping trolley receive-transmit units (8) together with reception time instant and date.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
216 words
Equipment with infrared transmit-receive units (5) arranged in departments (2) of a supermarket and with infrared receive-transmit units (8), which are mounted at the shopping trolleys (7) of the supermarket, with associated display device (9), for carrying out the method according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterised thereby that each of the infrared transmit-receive units (5) arranged in departments (2) of a supermarket is provided with a storage device which is decentrally loadable by means of a manual apparatus (3) by way of a second infrared path (6') with information specific to the respective department, wherein the infrared transmit-receive units (5) issue respective working and formatting instructions in a predetermined cycle by way of a first infrared path (6), the correct reception of which by the infrared receive-transmit units (8) is confirmed by way of the second infrared path (6') as soon as they come into the range of infrared transmit-receive units (5), the specific information provided for the respective department is transmitted by way of the first infrared path (6), the correct reception of which by the corresponding infrared receive-transmit unit (8) is confirmed by way of the second infrared path (6'), and the display device of the infrared receive-transmit units (8) has a display and a store for reproduction of the information.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
43 words
Equipment according to claim 8, characterised thereby that the display (9) of each infrared receive-transmit unit (8) is mounted at the front upper basket edge, which is opposite the push handle (7a), of the shopping trolley (7) in the customer field of vision.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
22 words
Equipment according to claim 8, characterised thereby that the display (9) is a four-line display for each fourth alpha-numeric character per line.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
69 words
Equipment according to one of claims 8 to 10, characterised thereby that the manual apparatus is a battery-powered manual apparatus (3) with a display (3a) which corresponds with the display (9) of the infrared receive-transmit unit (8) so as to each time charge the storage device of each infrared transmit-receive unit (8), which is to be supplied decentrally, with information and location characteristic special to the respective department (2).
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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