Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
340500900 | Commodity (e.g., vending) | 30 |
20100066490 | Apparatus and Method for Rejecting Jammed Coins - A coin separator and rejector apparatus that will electronically release and return jammed coins, tokens, slugs and the like is disclosed. A coin separator and rejector body is described having one or more downwardly inclined coin races formed therein. The rejector body has an upstream portion and a downstream portion. The coin races further comprise a first wall and a second wall wherein at least a portion of one of the race walls is pivotally connected with the rejector body. A first sensor is located in the upstream portion of the rejector body and a second sensor located in said downstream portion of said rejector body. An actuator is in mechanical connection with the pivotal portion of the race wall. A processor is in electrical communication with the sensors and with said actuator. A coin in an upstream portion of a coin separator and rejector is detected by the first sensor and sends a signal to the processor. The processor is programmed to wait a predetermined period of time to receive a signal from the second sensor indicating that the coin has progressed in the coin race to the second sensor. If the processor receives no signal from the second sensor after a predetermined time period has passed, the processor sends a signal to the actuator to open the pivotally connected portion of the separator and rejector to allow the jammed coin to be released from the separator and rejector. | 03-18-2010 |
20100328029 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATION DEVICE - In some embodiments, apparatus includes: a communication device to receive a plurality of removable information devices and transmit information to a proximity coupling system, the communication device including: a body; a plurality of electrical interfaces supported by the body, each of the plurality of electrical interfaces to electrically connect to a contact interface of an associated one of the plurality of removable information devices; a controller supported by the body to (i) determine which one of the plurality of removable information devices is selected by a user and (ii) receive information from the selected one of the plurality of removable information devices through a one of the plurality of electrical interfaces that is associated with the selected one of the plurality of removable information devices; and a wireless communication interface supported by the body to transmit information to the proximity coupling system, wherein the transmitted information is based at least in part information on the information received from the selected one of the plurality of removable information devices. | 12-30-2010 |
20110037562 | OUTDOOR VENDING MACHINE AND USE OF A USER INTERFACE FOR THE OPERATION OF AN OUTDOOR VENDING MACHINE - An outdoor vending machine in the form of a parking meter includes the following elements: a user interface having a cover plate, there being disposed in the region thereof operating information items and force sensors coupled to the cover plate, the force sensors outputting signals as a function of an external force exerted on the sensors via the cover plate, analysis electronics having a pressure point determination unit for ascertaining pressure points on the cover plate based on the signals of the force sensors, an association unit, which associates different operator commands with different pressure points in operation, and a processing unit; which carries out sales actions in operation based on the operator commands. The operating information items include operator command information items which are at least partially localized in or on a pressure area on the cover plate. Activation in the pressure area is accomplished by touching a pressure point to which the association unit assigns operator commands corresponding to the operator command information items. There is also provided a user interface for an outdoor vending machine. | 02-17-2011 |
20110193679 | ELECTRONIC SHELF LABEL SYSTEM, COMMUNICATION CONTROL DEVICE, RELAY STATION DEVICE, ELECTRONIC SHELF LABEL INFORMATION DISTRIBUTION METHOD, AND PROGRAM - Provided is an electronic shelf label system capable of shortening a period of time required in distributing a large amount of information such as update information for all electronic shelf labels. In the electronic shelf label system, a communication control device ( | 08-11-2011 |
20140232519 | RFID TAG WITH ENVIRONMENTAL SENSOR - In a method for controlling pricing of a product, a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag having at least one processor is attached to a monitored product. A value indicative of a degree of exposure to an environmental condition is obtained. The obtained value is compared with a predetermined value range. A price of the monitored product is adjusted when the result of the comparison falls outside the predetermined value range. | 08-21-2014 |
340500910 | Including merchandise information display system (e.g., store price display) | 14 |
20080238615 | MEDIA ENHANCED SHOPPING SYSTEMS WITH ELECTRONIC QUEUING - A media enhanced shopping cart system comprises a shopping cart comprising a frame, a basket, a handle, a base tray, a plurality of wheels, a read component for performing a proximity scan of the shopping cart, a locationing component for determining a location of the shopping cart within a store based on the scan, and a display component for displaying at least one advertisement for a product based on the location of the shopping cart within the store, wherein the locationing component is further operable to determine a location of the product within the store relative to the shopping cart based on the scan, and wherein the display component is further operable to display an indication of the location of the advertised product relative to the location of the shopping cart. | 10-02-2008 |
20090009286 | Picking assisting device - A picking assisting device of the present invention is a device for assisting an operator in picking the article indicated by picking information from a storage rack where storing various articles. A display response device is installed in each storage section of the storage rack, and each display response device includes a picking display lamp that lights up to indicate the storage section to be picked, a numerical value display for displaying the number of pieces of articles to be picked, and a completion switch operated by the operator for generating a signal indicative of the completion of picking. Further, a blocking arm is provided to a front surface of each storage section of the storage rack. The blocking arm of each storage section is operated by an arm driving mechanism to open the front surface of the storage section indicated by the picking information whereas to keep the front surfaces of the remaining storage sections blocked. | 01-08-2009 |
20090273443 | Display of an Electronic Shelf Label - The present invention relates to an electronic shelf label, a system including electronic shelf labels, a related method and a computer program, comprising a power source for giving power to a display for displaying product related information, and at least one memory register for storing a product related information, and a communication interface for communicating with an access communication unit from which commands are exchanged, the memory register and the communication interface being controlled by a control unit. The control unit is adapted to control the display of information from the register in dependence of received commands and the invention is characterised in that the electronic shelf label is provided, in addition to the a display for displaying product related information, with an additional display of information. | 11-05-2009 |
20100109839 | System and Method of Using Rewritable Paper for Displaying Product Information on Product Displays - The invention provides systems, methods, and computer program products for the display of product information in or about a store. In particular, systems and methods are provided that use information from an in-store communication network to display product information on a rewritable paper at designated points within or about a store including product displays. A system and method for communicating through the in-store communication network printing and erasing instructions from a system controller to a printer located on a product display for printing and erasing the product information on the rewritable paper positioned about a display surface of the product display. | 05-06-2010 |
20100141383 | COMMODITY MANAGEMENT APPARATUS - A commodity management apparatus includes, a weighing dish on which a container having a wireless tag attached thereto is mounted, an antenna which forms a region to communicate with the wireless tag from the side part of the weighing dish to the upper part of the weighing dish, a tag reader which contactlessly reads, via the antenna, data in the wireless tag attached to the container, a weight detection unit which detects the weight of the container mounted on the weighing dish, and an output control unit which outputs the weight of the container detected by the weight detection unit and the data in the wireless tag read by the tag reader. | 06-10-2010 |
20100225444 | ELECTRONIC SHELF LABEL SYSTEM, ELECTRONIC SHELF LABEL AND CORRESPONDENCE CHANGING METHOD - It is an object of the present invention to provide techniques for shortening a time required for establishing a correspondence between an electronic shelf label and a product. In an electronic shelf label system ( | 09-09-2010 |
20100253472 | ELECTRONIC SHELF LABEL SYSTEM - It is an object of the present invention to provide a technique relating to an electronic shelf label system that is capable of suppressing malfunction of an electronic shelf label caused by the increase of internal resistance of a battery. In order to achieve this object, in an electronic shelf label system of the present invention, an electronic shelf label | 10-07-2010 |
20110018685 | FRANCHISE ADD-ON SYSTEM, USER OPERATION TERMINAL AND STORE FRONT STOCK SHELF AND BACKYARD STOCK SHELF USED THEREFOR, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM USED THEREFOR - A store front stock shelf | 01-27-2011 |
20110102144 | Information display system and management device - An ESL server ( | 05-05-2011 |
20110128123 | ELECTRONIC SHELF LABEL AND ELECTRONIC LABELLING SYSTEM - The invention relates to an electronic shelf label and an electronic labelling system including an electronic shelf label, the label comprising a display for displaying information related to a product, a receiver for receiving commands and/or data from a central unit, a control unit for controlling the display and the receiver, characterized in that a timer is provided for measuring the time passed since the last message was received from the central unit, a comparing unit is arranged for comparing the measured time to a predetermined threshold time, and a controller is adapted to initiate a predetermined action if the measured time exceeds the threshold time. The invention also relates to an electronic labelling system comprising such an electronic shelf label. | 06-02-2011 |
20130229260 | ELECTRONIC TAG SYSTEM - An electronic tag system includes a point of sale host, a client host, a coordinator, a router and an electronic tag group. The point of sale host is configured for transmitting textual data. The client host is configured to provide image data corresponding to the textual data received from the point of sale host. The coordinator is configured for transmitting the image data received from the client host. The router is configured for transmitting the image data received from the coordinator. The electronic tag group includes a plurality of electronic tags for displaying images according to the image data received from the router. | 09-05-2013 |
20140313012 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR UPDATING ELECTRONIC SHELF LABELS AND UPDATING APPARATUS AND METHOD OF AN ELECTRONIC SHELF LABEL - An exemplary embodiment of a system for updating electronic shelf labels (ESLs) comprises multiple ESLs, and a gateway connected to the multiple ESLs to update data of the multiple ESLs. Each ESL comprises a transceiver having a media condition detector to detect whether other ESL(s) perform an update at the time slot, a controller, a memory, and a random number generator randomly selecting one of multiple time slots of a frame when an ESL update procedure begins, wherein the time slot corresponds to an index stored in the memory by the controller. The ESL performs the update at this time slot when none of said other ESL(s) performs the update at the time slot. When said other ESL(s) performs the update at the time slot, the controller enables the random number generator to randomly select another time slot from a next time frame. | 10-23-2014 |
20150348449 | ELECTRONIC SHELF LABEL TAG, ELECTRONIC SHELF LABEL SYSTEM AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF - An electronic shelf label tag includes a communications unit configured to perform wireless communications; a control unit configured to receive and store reservation data before a reserved display time by requesting the reservation data including display information corresponding to the reserved display time through the communications unit and control displaying of corresponding display information included in the reservation data when a current time reaches the reserved display time; a memory unit configured to store the reservation data including the display information corresponding to the reserved display time; and a time management unit configured to provide current time information to the control unit. The control unit may further receive reservation change information on corresponding reservation data before the reserved display time ends and applies the reservation change information to the corresponding reservation data. | 12-03-2015 |
20150348450 | ELECTRONIC SHELF LABEL TAG, ELECTRONIC SHELF LABEL SYSTEM FOR TIME-DIVISION TRANSMISSION OF DISPLAY DATA AND CHANGE COMMAND DATA, AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF - An electronic shelf label tag includes a communications unit configured to wirelessly communicate with an electronic shelf label repeater; a control unit configured to control operations including receiving display data including display information mapped to a display information index from the communications unit prior to a preset time, storing the display data, receiving change command data including the display information index from the communications unit after the preset time, retrieving the display information mapped to the display information index included in the change command data from the stored display data, and displaying the retrieved display information on a screen; a memory unit configured to store the display data including the display information mapped to the display information index under the control of the control unit; and a display unit configured to display the retrieved display information on the screen under the control of the control unit. | 12-03-2015 |
340500920 | Item inventorying | 11 |
20090045915 | DYNAMIC INVENTORY MANAGEMENT OF DEPLOYED ASSETS - A dynamic inventory management method can include the step of attaching a location tag to a deployable asset. A mobile entity can be associated with the location tag. A tag scanner can scan for location tags within a range of the tag scanner. Data can be conveyed from the tag scanner to a communicatively linked inventory control system. The scanning and conveying steps can be repeated to dynamically update the inventory control system. | 02-19-2009 |
20090051490 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS TO IMPROVE RFID INVENTORY POLLING ACCURACY - Methods, systems, and media to improve polling accuracy in RFID systems are disclosed. Embodiments comprise receiving information from one or more tags by a tag reader, comparing the information from the tags to other information, and adding the tag to an inventory if the tag does not exist in the other information. While some embodiments compare the tag information from the tags to baseline inventories for other areas, some embodiments compare it to current inventories for the other areas or compare it to a combination of both inventories. Some embodiments involve polling RFID tags in storage containers. Other embodiments involve machine-accessible mediums with instructions to receive information from the tag reader, analyze the information with baseline and current inventories of other areas, and store identification information for the tag in a current inventory database if the information is absent from the baseline and current inventories. | 02-26-2009 |
20090108991 | Electronically Detectable Display and Monitoring System - An electronically detectable display and monitoring system are disclosed. The display ( | 04-30-2009 |
20100102930 | INTRODUCTION OF A SELF-REPORTING PORTABLE CONTAINER INTO AN INVENTORY SYSTEM - A method of introducing into an inventory system a self-reporting portable container containing a consumable substance configured to determine and selectively report information about the substance. The container is configured to self report an attribute of the consumable substance. An identifier is associated with at least one of the container, the substance or a sensor provided to sense the attribute of the container. | 04-29-2010 |
20100134251 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SYSTEMATIZING PROVISIONING OF TWO BINS REPLENISHMENT SYSTEMS - The present invention relates to a system and method for systematizing provisioning of two bins replenishment systems. The system comprises a database and a reader. The database stores location information and product identification for each product, the location information including rack identification, row information, and bin information. The reader receives an input from a user corresponding to a product to be provisioned, extracts from the database location information by correlating the input with the product identification, and outputs the location information to the user. The method comprises inputting a product identification corresponding to a product to be provisioned, extracting from a database location information corresponding to the product identification, and outputting the extracted location. | 06-03-2010 |
20100156597 | Real-Time Automatic RFID Inventory Control System - The present disclosure describes a system for tracking store-items placed in a storage space. The system includes a plurality of wireless RFID readers distributed within the storage space such that at least one store-item, having an RFID tag attached, is within an interrogation range of at least one of the wireless RFID reader. The system further includes a monitoring server operative to communicate wirelessly with the a plurality of wireless RFID readers to obtain information collected by the plurality of wireless RFID readers from the RFID tag attached to the at least one store-item. | 06-24-2010 |
20100164686 | METHOD FOR MONITORING A PACKAGE, SENTINEL INDICATOR SYSTEM AND LOGISTICS SYSTEM - There is provided a method for monitoring a package for storage and/or transport of at least one item. An exemplary method comprises receiving at a transmission unit measured data about properties of the item and/or about influences on the item via at least two sensors. The exemplary method also comprises executing via the transmission unit a decision of a logical node of a logistics system about a selection of data transmitted to a receiving unit. The exemplary method additionally comprises sending information about the desired selection of data from a control unit to the transmission unit. Finally, the exemplary method comprises enabling a user to make a selection relating to types of data to be transmitted. | 07-01-2010 |
20110025461 | ELECTRONIC SHELF LABEL SYSTEM - An electronic shelf label system includes a plurality of electronic shelf labels, plurality of transmitters, and a transmission controller. The transmission controller divides the transmitters into a plurality of communication groups so that each of the communication groups has a collective communication area including at least one of the transmitters, and to control the transmitters in units of the communication groups. The transmission controller also controls all of the transmitters included in one of the communication group, which is determined based on input of position specification information for specifying a position of a worker who is utilizing a portable information processing device, to cause product information of a target product to be transmitted to a target electronic shelf label by one of the transmitters that belongs to the communication group. | 02-03-2011 |
20110163846 | Monitoring Unit Depletion in an Independent Real-Time Mass Storage Unit System by Using an Estimated Tare Mass of the Item - Embodiments of the present invention provide a computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer program product for estimating, refining, and using the tare mass for an item to determine and monitor item depletion. In response to detecting an initial presence of an item in the storage unit, a controller collects data about the item. The controller then searches a database for a recorded item containing the same item identification. The tare mass of the item is set equal to the refined tare mass of the recorded item retrieved from the database. The tare mass is then used to calculate a depletion threshold for the item. | 07-07-2011 |
20110241831 | STORAGE SYSTEM - A storage system ( | 10-06-2011 |
20140118110 | SECURITY SYSTEM FOR CONTAINERS - A storage system for material containers provides a readable ID distinguishing each container, and includes a scale that weighs containers, so that the system can distinguish between containers that are sufficiently loaded to be effective and containers that are insufficiently loaded. The system preferably includes storage for containers held in contact with readers of the container IDs. This allows a controller to keep track of containers checked out for use and returned for storage, and to identify containers that have been discharged. | 05-01-2014 |