Communications: electrical – Continuously variable indicating – With meter reading
Utility Patent
1998-06-18
2001-01-02
Horabik, Michael (Department: 2735)
Communications: electrical
Continuously variable indicating
With meter reading
C705S020000, C705S023000
Utility Patent
active
06169493
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to shelf talker management systems, and more specifically to a shelf talker management system and method.
Shelf talkers are commonly used in retail establishments to distinguish specially promoted or “sale” items from other merchandise items and to attract customers to the specially promoted items. They typically include paper signs printed with promotional wording and special colors schemes. Shelf talkers are mounted to a shelf rail adjacent to specially promoted items. Some may be mounted perpendicular to the shelf rail to attract customers looking down an aisle from one end of the aisle.
Management of shelf talkers is largely a manual process. A store manager prepares a list of shelf talkers to be installed or removed and an operator uses the list to manually install or remove the shelf talkers.
In order to carry out an effective merchandising plan, a retailer must ensure that shelf talkers are correctly installed and removed. Accurate placement of shelf talkers allows a retailer to better predict customer reactions to shelf talkers.
There have been several precious attempts to simplify the manual in-store process. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,226 discloses a method of managing shelf talkers using an electronic price label (EPL) system.
The disclosed system relies exclusively on two way communication between an EPL and a computer. Special sensors or switches add cost to the EPLs. The system cannot determine whether the correct shelf talker has been installed. Also, the system is not suited for use in stores that also use printed price labels or other types of nonelectronic price labels.
It would be desirable to providing a shelf talker management system and method which can also accurately determine whether shelf talkers have been properly installed for items associated with printed price labels.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, a shelf talker management system and method are provided.
The system includes a bar code reader for reading first bar code labels of first items following installation of first shelf talkers, second bar code labels of a number of second items having second shelf talkers already installed, third bar code labels of third items following removal of third shelf talkers, and fourth bar code labels of a number of fourth items having fourth shelf talkers already removed, and for transmitting bar code information for the first, second, third, and fourth bar code labels and errors for the second and fourth items. The system further includes a computer for generating a list of the items including the first and second shelf talkers to be installed and the third and fourth shelf talkers to be removed, and for generating a report identifying placement of the first and second shelf talkers for the first and second items and the errors.
The method includes the steps of generating a list of the shelf talkers, scanning first bar code labels of first items following installation of the first shelf talkers by a bar code reader within the hand-held terminal, scanning second bar code labels of second items having shelf talkers already installed by the bar code reader within the hand-held terminal and logging errors for the second items, transmitting bar code information for the first and second bar code labels and the errors to a computer by the hand-held terminal, and generating a report identifying placement of the first and second shelf talkers and the errors by the computer.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a shelf talker management system and method.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a shelf talker management system and method which track installation of shelf talkers in store environments containing printed labels.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a shelf talker management system and method which track installation of shelf talkers in store environments containing both electronic price labels and printed labels.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a shelf talker management system and method which uses electronic price labels where available to identify items requiring shelf talkers and requiring removal of shelf talkers.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4002886 (1977-01-01), Sundelin
patent: 4500880 (1985-02-01), Gomersall et al.
patent: 4924363 (1990-05-01), Kornelson
patent: 5172314 (1992-12-01), Poland et al.
patent: 5198644 (1993-03-01), Pfeiffer et al.
patent: 5448226 (1995-09-01), Faling, Jr. et al.
patent: 5771005 (1998-06-01), Goodwin, III
patent: 5870714 (1999-02-01), Shetty et al.
patent: 96/12243 (1996-04-01), None
patent: 97/39398 (1997-10-01), None
Horabik Michael
Martin Paul W.
NCR Corporation
Shimizu Matsuichiro
LandOfFree
Shelf talker management system and method does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Shelf talker management system and method, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Shelf talker management system and method will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2557455