Computer-implemented function triggering method

Abstract

The invention relates to a computer-implemented function triggering method, comprising the following steps: determining, in a radio-based manner, that a mobile user device is located at least in the vicinity of a sales area; checking whether there is representation data representing an advertisement, in particular relating to the sales area and / or to a product, in particular provided in relation to the sales area, the advertisement being transmitted via the Internet to the user device itself or to other devices associated with the user device; and automatically triggering at least one function corresponding to the representation data.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a function triggering method implemented by a computer. Background Art

[0002] Today, displaying Internet-based content on user devices is often accompanied by providing advertisements, which are additional information contextually associated with the Internet-based content, are also displayed on the user device, and can be perceived by the user there as an incentive to purchase the product or service.

[0003] Against this background, the object of the present invention is to increase the effectiveness of the additional information, ie the advertisement, above that of a mere purchase incentive. Summary of the invention

[0004] This object is achieved by a computer-implemented method according to claim 1. The subject of the invention is therefore a computer-implemented function triggering method, wherein the method has the steps of determining in a radio-based manner that a mobile user device is at least in the vicinity of a sales area; checking whether there are representation data representing an advertisement, in particular relating to the sales area and / or to products, in particular products offered in connection with the sales area, which advertisement is transmitted via the Internet to the user device itself or to other devices associated with the user device; and automatically triggering at least one function corresponding to these representation data.

[0005] The advantage of the measures according to the invention is that, as soon as the user device is at least in the vicinity of the sales area, the advertisement can be displayed on the user device or another device associated with the user device for later fully automatic triggering of the function. Thus, an automatic triggering of the function based on location can be achieved, wherein the location relevance is determined by the current location of the user device carrying the user device. The function itself can have many forms, wherein the function is a technical function, i.e. a function executed on a technical device, in particular a control or communication function.

[0006] The sales area can be understood, for example, as an outdoor sales area of ​​a market, the interior of a supermarket building, or even a small shop on the street or the like, ie quite generally as a business premises or that area of ​​a business premises where products to be sold are displayed.

[0007] The periphery of the sales area may be understood as, for example, a parking lot, a parking building, a road intersection or a sidewalk, etc., which are adjacent to the sales area.

[0008] The mobile user equipment can be understood as a smart phone, a tablet computer, a smart watch (Smart-Watch) or a portable positioning device (such as Air-Tag launched by Apple) and the like.

[0009] The representation data may be understood as a digital image of the advertisement, such as plain text information contained in or forming the advertisement or plain text information describing the advertisement or image information reduced to the core content of the advertisement and / or such audio information describing the advertisement. However, it may also be information that encodes the advertisement according to an encoding scheme, which cannot be decoded without knowing the decoding scheme. This makes it possible to anonymize the content of the advertisement. It may also be data indicating a link via which the provided advertisement or metadata related to the advertisement, i.e. data describing the advertisement in terms of content, can be retrieved. So-called cookies may also be used in conjunction with the representation data, which are stored on the user device as a result of the display of Internet-based content and make the representation data available there.

[0010] In order to interpret the content of the representation data, these representation data can be automatically analyzed to determine: whether they contain pure text information, such as the name of the sales area (i.e. the corresponding store / supermarket name, etc.); or whether they contain image information, which allows the location or name of the sales area to be inferred by means of digital image evaluation; or whether they contain links, so that the location or name of the sales area can be inferred or such information can be obtained via the link, etc. The same applies to products. The representation data can also indicate a combination of sales areas and products in the above-mentioned form. In this way, in a computerized manner, a specific sales area, a specific product or both can be inferred from the representation data.

[0011] Typically, advertisements are provided to a user device or a device associated with the user device by a computer other than the user device via a communication network, especially the Internet.

[0012] In a broad sense, products can be understood as goods and services that are offered and can be rented, leased or purchased. The expression "represents an advertisement ... and / or relates to a product, in particular a product offered in connection with the sales area" should be understood in such a way that: in principle, it can first be an advertisement for a product that is not directly related to the sales area. However, in a narrower sense, it is an advertisement for a product that is related to the sales area. It can be a product that is actually located in the sales area or it can also be a product that is only offered there, but the product does not have to be actually available there, because, for example, it happens to be out of stock.

[0013] Further, particularly advantageous embodiments and refinements of the invention emerge from the dependent claims and the subsequent description.

[0014] The computer may be a single device, a server farm, a cloud-based service, such as a video platform (such as YouTube, Vimeo, etc.), a search engine for searching content on the Internet (such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, Yandex, etc.), or something similar, wherein the cloud-based service itself may be centrally organized on a server farm or decentralized. Thus, the term "computer" should be understood as a synonym for the above-mentioned entities or services, and should not be understood only as a single device in the narrow sense of the word.

[0015] Furthermore, the computer is therefore not that data processing system which the operator of the sales area uses for his business purposes, his product logistics or for controlling the installations in his sales area, although this data processing system can also be organized in a decentralized or cloud-based manner.

[0016] On the other hand, the advertisement originally comes from the advertiser or is essentially related to the advertiser or his product. The advertiser can be a company, an organization or an individual who advertises their products or products sold only by them or entrusts others to advertise these products. He may be a business operator who directly operates the commercial area. However, he may also be a commodity producer or service provider who directly promotes his goods or services, even if the goods or services are to be obtained in the sales area of ​​a third party (store operator). Therefore, the sales area is operated by other natural persons or legal persons different from the producer or service provider. For the operational implementation of advertising, advertising agencies are usually used, which design advertising content and realize media delivery, wherein the advertisement is finally available on the Internet via a computer and delivered there in the context of the retrieved content.

[0017] Particularly preferably, in the process of determining that the mobile user device is at least located in the vicinity of the sales area, identification data (user device identifier; user identifier) ​​are detected, which identify the user device or the user of the user device or the relationship between the user and the user device. Thereby, the unique identification of the user (via the relevant user device) or only the user device or both can be used for further data processing or communication, in particular for automatic triggering of the function. Thus, the function can be triggered in a targeted manner in the context of the respective user or his user device.

[0018] For subsequent use, these representation data can also have these identification data, so that the user equipment on which advertisement has been displayed or the user to whom advertisement has been displayed can be identified, or a connection is established between the displayed advertisement on the one hand and the user equipment or the user on the other hand. However, this connection can also be established across user equipment, because the user can, for example, browse the content based on the Internet in front of his personal computer (PC) at home, while displaying advertisement to the user, and the user can carry his smart phone or his smart watch in the business premises, i.e., the sales area, when shopping. In this typical scenario, these representation data can be first created on PC, and then these representation data are transmitted to other user equipment of the user. This can be realized in direct communication between different user equipment or realized via cloud-based services, wherein all user equipment involved by the user are registered, i.e., associated with each other. However, these representation data can also be stored in a separate cloud-based service, and are centrally provided there for further use.

[0019] According to one aspect of the present invention, it can be provided that the automatic triggering of the function includes at least one of the activities listed below, namely: recording the proximity relationship that occurred; automatically transmitting an electronic message to a mobile user device; automatically transmitting an electronic message to a data processing system of an operator assigned to a sales area, wherein the automatic transmission of the record and / or the electronic message represents a single event of the proximity relationship that occurred or forms a representation of multiple such single events. In this case, the record can be made in a log file, for example. The log file can be created on a computer, a user device, or a data processing system and then stored there. However, the log file can also be created on one of the above entities and stored on another entity, depending on the corresponding subsequent processing scenario.

[0020] Here, these single events of the adjacent relationship occurrence can be recorded, and these single events can also be further processed or forwarded immediately. It is also possible to record the occurrence of multiple such adjacent relationships within a period of time by means of the log file, and further utilize or forward it after the period of time.

[0021] According to a first variant, the proximity relationship that occurs can be further processed on the one hand with the aid of the mobile user equipment to which the log file has been forwarded or where the log file has also been created.

[0022] According to a second variant, the further processing can also be carried out with the aid of a data processing system of the operator of the sales region, where the log file was created or to which the log file was transmitted.

[0023] According to a third variant, the log files can also be evaluated with the aid of an Internet-based service (for example with the aid of an Internet-based search engine), which, for example, is also already responsible for providing the advertisements.

[0024] What these three variants have in common is that the current log files can be used to analyze the advertising strategy. This can be done by processing or processing the log files immediately in near real time when the corresponding neighboring relationship occurs, or at a later point in time, so that a larger data set related to the occurrence of the neighboring relationship can be analyzed. In particular, the advantage of real-time processing is that it is possible to react to the occurrence of the neighboring relationship as quickly as possible, and even to provide special offers "just in time" if necessary. In this case, the type and form of the offer can be dynamically matched to the corresponding neighboring relationship or also to the original underlying advertisement. However, correspondingly, if multiple neighboring events are evaluated together, that is, after the time period in which these neighboring events occurred, this may make an accurate evaluation of the advertising effect.

[0025] According to another aspect of the invention, provision can be made that the automatic triggering of at least one function corresponding to the representation data comprises associating the representation data with the product location data of the products to which the representation data relate, by means of a database storing the product locations of the products in the sales area by means of product location data. This measure lays the foundation for further technical support measures, which can facilitate the purchase of the product. That is, the association allows a more precise indication of the distance or route to the location where the product promoted by means of the advertisement can actually be obtained later. In this way, for example, a comparison scenario can be provided or displayed to the user, in which not only the different prices of the product in different markets can be compared, but also the actual distance measured from the user's current location to the product in the market where the relevant product is available. The initially transmitted one-dimensional advertisement is thus expanded to a multi-dimensional one and thus forms a more convincing decision basis for the user, since now, in addition to the advertisement, on the one hand, the product location associated with the advertisement or parameters derivable therefrom, such as the distance to the product / market or also the travel time to the product / market, can also be obtained. A similar process can also be performed at the market level, ie at the sales area level, where the prices, travel distances or purchase times of similar types of promotional products promoted by the advertisement can be compared for users of mobile user devices, ie for potential customers.

[0026] According to another aspect of the invention, provision can be made for the automatic triggering of at least one function corresponding to the representation data to automatically provide a discount for the product promoted by the advertisement for automatic use. The discount can be automatically applied when the relevant product is purchased, i.e. without further communication with the user or without further action by the user. On the other hand, the discount can also be used for the purchase only if the user takes further action, such as scanning a confirmation code using his user device or interacting with an interface on his user device or manually or wirelessly or digitally interacting with other devices, such as a cash register terminal or an electronic display device.

[0027] According to another aspect of the invention, provision can be made for the automatic triggering of at least one function corresponding to the representation data to include the automatic generation of purchase confirmation data after the purchase of a product in the sales area, wherein the purchase confirmation data record the relationship between the advertisement and the purchased product, and to provide the purchase confirmation data for further processing. This relationship ensures that those purchases related to the provided advertisement and other purchases that were completed independently of the advertisement can be distinguished, i.e. they can be processed differently in further data processing, more precisely in different entities of the data processing system extending from the provision of the advertisement via the mobile user device to the distribution to the sales area.

[0028] According to a first embodiment of the invention, the radio-based determination is based on the following situation: position data representing the position of the mobile user device are received by radio by a computer accessible via the Internet, and it is determined there that the mobile user device is at least located in the vicinity of a sales area or in other words in the vicinity of a sales area, wherein the computer knows the location of the sales area, but the computer is not assigned to the sales area or its operator.

[0029] These position data may represent GPS coordinates, which are determined, for example, by means of a GPS receiver in the mobile user device and are then transmitted from the mobile user device to the computer by radio (via an Internet connection, such as an LTE, 3G, 4G, 5G connection or a WLAN connection). However, these position data may also be determined by a mobile communications operator. The mobile communications operator may determine the presence and the position of a mobile user device logged into its mobile radio network by means of radio cells of the mobile radio network, for example by means of triangulation or other measures, and transmit the (or approximate) position thus determined either to the mobile user device, from which the position is transmitted to the computer by radio as discussed, or directly to the computer via the mobile radio network with an indication of which user device it is, i.e. using a user device identifier or user identifier.

[0030] Since the computer knows the location of the sales area because it has stored it, for example, in a digital map or has access to such a digital map, it can ascertain with the help of the received position data that the mobile user device was located in the vicinity of the sales area when it was carried by the user.

[0031] The measures listed here for determining the existence of a proximity relationship in a radio-based manner therefore do not require a direct radio connection of the mobile user equipment to the radio infrastructure of the sales area or of an operator of the sales area.

[0032] According to a second embodiment of the invention, the radio-based determination is based on the fact that the mobile user device has entered a radio range that is radio-covered by the radio device assigned to the sales area.

[0033] The radio device may be a WLAN radio device or a MESH radio device based on WLAN technology. ZigBee radio devices, Bluetooth radio devices, etc. may also be used. In addition, the radio device may also be a proprietary radio device.

[0034] The radio device can be implemented, for example, by a radio transceiver, which is designed for two-way radio communication with the user equipment so as to be able to determine in a radio-based manner that the mobile user equipment has entered the radio range. Similarly, only one radio transmitter can also be used, which is only used to send out radio signals, so as to determine in a radio-based manner on the user equipment side that the mobile user equipment has entered the radio transmission range of the transmitter. Similarly, only one radio receiver can also be provided, which is only provided for receiving the radio signal sent by the user equipment, so as to determine in a radio-based manner that the mobile user equipment has entered the radio reception range of the receiver.

[0035] For example, a single radio device may be used if substantially the entire sales area can be completely covered by the radio range of a single radio device or if only a sub-area within the sales area is to be assigned to the radio range of a radio device.

[0036] For example, a plurality of radio devices can be used if the entire radio range extended by means of the radio device is to extend over a wide sales area or if sub-areas of the sales area are to be covered by individual radio ranges.

[0037] In the present case, the expression "the mobile user device enters the radio range" can be understood such that the radio range also extends slightly beyond the physical boundaries of the sales area, since the radio signals generated within the sales area do not disappear abruptly with the physical boundaries of the sales area. In this case, the provision "... the radio device is assigned to the sales area" means that the radio device is essentially at the disposal of the operator of the sales area, is installed in the sales area, and / or works with the rest of the electronic infrastructure of the sales area or can be controlled by this electronic infrastructure or can transmit data to this electronic infrastructure.

[0038] The entry detected in this way into the radio range defined by the radio device assigned to the sales area forms the basis for the targeted automatic triggering of functions within this sales area.

[0039] If the function is to be triggered automatically by a data processing system, it is advantageous if the detected identification data are transmitted to a data processing system which is assigned to the sales region or to a business operator of the sales region.

[0040] In this case, the data processing system is preferably part of the electronic infrastructure of the sales area or forms the electronic data processing infrastructure of the sales area, which uses these identification data for further processing.

[0041] According to another aspect, the presence of the representative data is then checked by the data processing system, so that if these representative data are present, the functions corresponding to these representative data can also be automatically triggered by the data processing system. It should therefore be noted in summary that not only is the determination made in a radio-based manner, but also the function triggering is automatic in the sales area, i.e., an autonomous reaction can be made in the sales area to the entry of the mobile user device into the radio range and the presence of these representative data.

[0042] According to a first variant of the second design form, provision can be made that, in order to check whether the representation data are present, the data processing system contacts the user device by radio means and acquires the representation data from the user device and further processes these representation data. Advantageously, this first variant enables further processing of the representation data directly, that is to say without further involvement of the mobile user device or even of a computer accessible via the Internet. In this case, the data processing system can further process these representation data completely autonomously, in particular in real time when acquiring the representation data from the mobile user device.

[0043] According to a second variant of the second design form, it can be provided that the data processing system first receives, in particular via the Internet, a data set with identification data and associated representation data from a computer that is different from the user device or other devices associated therewith and is not assigned to the sales area or the operator of the sales area, and stores the data set for subsequent processing, and after ascertaining that the user device has entered the radio range of the radio device, checks whether a data set with those identification data that were also transmitted when the user device entered the radio range is stored, and in the case of a positive check result, further processes the representation data of the data set. In this case, in principle, the data processing system also processes these representation data autonomously. In this case, only communication with the data processing system is required, wherein on the one hand, these representation data can be accessed and on the other hand, the identification data of the relevant mobile user device can be accessed. However, the representation data must be received from a computer accessible via the Internet at the data processing system in advance, i.e., before the mobile user device has entered the radio range, together with the identification data indicating to which user device the advertisement was previously transmitted, and temporarily stored for subsequent checking. Only after one or more data sets have been stored can a check be performed after the mobile user equipment enters the radio range assigned to the sales area to determine whether a data set is available for the relevant mobile user equipment whose representative data are allowed to be used.

[0044] According to a third variant of the second design form, it can be provided that the user equipment communicates the entry into the radio range, in particular via the Internet, to a computer which is not assigned to the sales area or its operator and which stores the representation data determined for the user equipment, and that the computer transmits a data set with identification data and associated representation data belonging to the user equipment that communicated the entry into the radio range to a data processing device, and that the data processing device checks whether a data set with the same identification data has been received for the identification data of the user equipment that entered the radio range, and further processes the representation data of the data set if the check result is positive. Unlike the second variant, in this third variant it is necessary that the mobile user equipment first performs two communications substantially in real time when entering the radio range assigned to the sales area. That is, the mobile user equipment must first identify itself to the data processing system in which these identification data are temporarily stored by means of its identification data, and on the other hand, must contact a computer accessible via the Internet with its identification data while indicating the identification (address) of the data processing system, so that the computer can transmit the data set to the data processing system in a subsequent addressed communication. In this case, two different communications are also required on the side of the data processing system, namely the communication with which it receives the identification data from the mobile user device and the communication with which it receives the data set from the computer. Only in this way can the data processing system check whether there is a data set belonging to the previously identified user device and then, in the positive case, use the representative data of the user device.

[0045] Now - no matter which variant is selected - the representation data present at the data processing system are evaluated by the data processing system and one or more preset functions are triggered as a function of these representation data. The automatic triggering of the function can be, for example, a radio-based communication with a mobile user device, wherein, for example, the purchase discount already mentioned is preset, i.e. stored. This process does not necessarily need to be immediately transparent to the user. Rather, the discount can be retained for a later purchase operation and the use of the discount is only transparent to the user during the purchase operation.

[0046] According to another aspect, the automatic triggering of the function may be a human-perceptible playback having one of the playback forms listed below, namely: light signal playback; text playback; audio playback; image playback; and / or video playback.

[0047] For this purpose, the mobile user device can independently trigger and execute, in particular immediately trigger and execute, a human-perceptible playback after the mobile user device independently determines that it has entered the radio range.

[0048] Likewise, the function can be triggered on the mobile user device by a computer which is informed or has been informed of the entry into radio range. The notification can be made by the mobile user device itself or by the data processing system.

[0049] Furthermore, the devices assigned to the sales area and / or the mobile user devices can be controlled by means of the data processing system for a human-perceptible playback.

[0050] According to a special aspect, human-perceivable playback can be determined in content by representation data. In this case, text, auditory perceivable announcements, still images or videos can be played, for example, by a device designed for corresponding playback in a manner derived from or obtained by these representation data. The device can be, for example, a screen in a sales area, which is located, for example, in the entrance area of ​​a supermarket, or there, based on these representation data, information related to the initially received advertisement or the promoted product is played. This can remind the user of the promoted product and thus generate a purchase incentive. In addition, smaller display devices, such as electronic tags, especially electronic shelf tags, can also be used for this type of optically perceivable playback. These display devices are particularly suitable for playing essentially static content, which is usually given by text and / or still images. In addition, so-called video shelf rails can also be used, which are installed in the front of the shelf floor and are used to play videos. The device can also be a loudspeaker system in a supermarket, where a broadcast announcement preferably automatically generated and matched with the original advertisement or the promoted product is played.

[0051] In order to provide information about a user of a mobile user device, and to provide accurate information about the user even if the user moves arbitrarily in the sales area, it has proven to be particularly advantageous to trigger a human-perceptible playback on the user device.

[0052] However, in order to provide information relevant to the user of the mobile user device, in particular location-related information, it has proven to be advantageous to trigger a human-perceptible playback on an electronic display device (e.g., LCD panel, flat screen, etc.), in particular on an electronic shelf label (called "electronic shelf label" in English). This allows the attention to be directed in a targeted manner to the location where the electronic display device is located, whereby products that are usually located there are also moved into the attention range of the user of the mobile user device.

[0053] It should be mentioned at this point that a human-perceptible display can also take place in a combined manner, ie not only on the mobile user device but also on an electronic display device.

[0054] It has proven to be particularly advantageous to automatically trigger a human-perceptible playback selectively only for that or those electronic display devices that are influenced in content by the representation data or by the advertisement represented by means of the representation data. With this measure, it is possible to selectively select from all electronic display devices exactly the electronic display device that belongs to the product for which the advertisement is placed for human-perceptible playback. In this way, for example, the placed advertisement can be specifically pointed out in a location-specific manner at the promoted product, that is, it can be reminded. In the context of the placed advertisement, here, if the advertisement relates to a group of products or to a class of products, it can of course also involve a plurality of such display devices. With the help of the already mentioned database that stores the location of the product in the sales area, one or more relevant electronic display devices are selected. The database can also store the electronic display devices associated with the corresponding product (to be precise, the identity or address of these electronic display devices), so that the relevant product can be retrieved in the database by means of the advertisement or the representation data and then also the relevant electronic display device. Then, in a well-known manner, the electronic display device with the human-perceptible playback provided for this is controlled by a data processing system, if necessary with the help of a radio network in the sales area.

[0055] Particularly preferably, the human-perceptible playback is automatically triggered depending on the position of the user device in the sales area. This has the advantage that, on the one hand, energy-saving operation of these electronic display devices is ensured, since the electronic display devices are usually battery-powered and thus avoid the situation in which they need to flash continuously, for example. It can also be ensured by this that the human-perceptible playback is actually performed only when the relevant user device is located in an area in which it can be assumed that the user can actually perceive the human-perceptible playback. For example, the definition of the area in which the human-perceptible playback is to be presented can be achieved by evaluating radio signals. In this way, for example, the user device in the sales area can be switched from one radio range to an adjacent radio range in order to activate the human-perceptible playback. In this context, it should be mentioned by way of example that the first radio range covers, for example, the entrance area of ​​a supermarket, where a relatively large flat screen is installed, which displays advertisements identified by the representation data. In this context, it should also be mentioned by way of example that the second radio range covers the shelf aisle, where a smaller flat screen is installed on the entrance side, which displays advertisements identified by the representation data. Depending on whether the mobile user device is present in the first radio range or in the second radio range, the larger flat screen or the smaller flat screen is applied and presents selective information to the associated user of the mobile user device. However, the exemplary system can even be refined to the level of shelves or shelf rails, where these electronic display devices are selectively used in groups or individually for presenting human-perceivable playback. This only requires that the radio signals used to define the position of the user device are evaluated with the corresponding position relationship to the electronic display device to be activated or to be deactivated or to be manipulated in a situation-specific manner.

[0056] In this regard, it has proven particularly advantageous to determine by means of Bluetooth beacons whether a distance threshold between the electronic display device and the user device has been fallen below, which serves as a criterion for triggering a human-perceptible playback.

[0057] In this way, for example, the signal strength or RSSI value can be used to estimate the distance between a mobile user device on the one hand and an electronic display device on the other hand, and when the distance falls below a threshold, the relevant electronic display device can be controlled to present a human-perceptible playback, wherein RSSI stands for Received Signal Strength Indication, which is determined in the radio device or in the radio device during the processing of radio signals.

[0058] In this case, the evaluation of the RSSI value can be carried out in the mobile user device, where it is identified that the distance threshold is below, and this situation is communicated in the radio network of the sales area so that the relevant electronic display device can be operated by the data processing system. For this purpose, the Bluetooth beacon can be installed at any location in the sales area. However, preferably, multiple Bluetooth beacons are placed at different locations in the sales area, and these Bluetooth beacons send individual beacon radio signals from there, which uniquely characterize these Bluetooth beacons. These different locations can be, for example, commercial areas, shelf aisles, individual shelves or even shelf compartments or shelf rails. It can also be provided that these electronic display devices themselves have Bluetooth beacons, which further improves the spatial resolution in the sales area.

[0059] Subsequently, the identifier of the Bluetooth radio signal, respectively used to determine the distance, is transmitted from the mobile user device that receives the beacon radio signal or these beacon radio signals to the data processing device, from which spatial information about the location of the mobile user device is derived. With the help of this information, it can be found out whether the relevant mobile user device is located near the electronic display device that is to be controlled based on the representation data for human-perceptible playback.

[0060] Similarly, it can also be provided that the mobile user device contains a beacon, in particular a Bluetooth beacon, whose beacon radio signal can be received by receivers distributed in the sales area, so that the distance to the mobile user device can be determined or defined or estimated at these receivers. The positions of the above-mentioned receivers can be selected to be the same as those of the above-mentioned Bluetooth beacons, in particular integrated in the electronic display. Thereby, the distance determination can be refined to the level of the distance between the mobile user device and the electronic display device, more precisely in a way that is as energy-efficient as possible. That is, the rechargeable batteries of the mobile user devices can be easily and as needed by their users at any time, whereby the energy requirement for emitting the beacon radio signal becomes insignificant. At the same time, however, in the case of a battery-powered electronic display device, the receiving mode for receiving the beacon radio signal requires only a relatively small energy requirement compared to the energy requirement required for the transmission operation for emitting the beacon radio signal.

[0061] Regardless of the manner in which the distance is determined, it has proven to be extremely advantageous that the electronic display device has at least one light emitting diode (LED) that is controlled to play a flashing light signal. LEDs can be operated in a very energy-saving manner, which is similar to the case of battery-powered electronic display devices discussed in the previous paragraph, and also has a positive impact on the battery life. In addition, point-shaped radiation sources are extremely easy to perceive for the human eye and the human sense of direction that follows. As a result, these point-shaped radiation sources attract the desired attention of the user of the mobile user device with as little cost as possible, and optically guide the user to the product promoted by the advertisement previously displayed on the user's user device. In particular, it is no longer necessary for the user to cognitively process human-perceptible text or image information, which may distract the user from the perception of the promoted goods or services or may even be perceived by the user as interference.

[0062] In addition to directly displaying the product in the immediate vicinity of the user's device so that it can be visually perceived by the user, human-perceivable playback can be used to navigate to the location in the sales area determined for the product to which the advertisement relates. Thus, the user can also be guided from a relatively long distance, where the promoted product is not initially visible, to that area of ​​the sales area where the user can see the promoted product or where the user can notice the relevant product if the measures in the previous paragraph are applied.

[0063] Since the data processing system knows the position of the products in the sales area and also knows their associated electronic displays, it can plan a route to the relevant goods or services for the relevant mobile user device after transmitting the representation data or after using the representation data, starting from entering the radio range. The relevant mobile user device can now access this route in a human-perceivable manner in the sales area using the above-mentioned technical visualization devices, such as flat-panel screens and in particular multiple electronic displays. It can also be provided that the screen and / or audio output device of the mobile user device is used for navigation, wherein the above-mentioned measures are applied again in order to locate the mobile user device using beacon radio signals. Thus, in the sales area, navigation information determined by the representation data can be provided or displayed dynamically, i.e., in particular in a location-dependent manner.

[0064] In order to be able to check the effectiveness of the provided advertising, according to another aspect, it is advantageous if, after the mobile user device has been detected to have entered the radio range assigned to the sales area, the mobile user device and / or the data processing system assigned to the sales area checks whether these representative data are related to the sales area. This measure allows the behavior of the user, i.e. the potential customer, who uses the mobile user device to be processed and interpreted in the context of the provided advertising. Thus, the effectiveness of the placed advertising can be determined.

[0065] According to a further aspect, it has proven to be advantageous to ascertain the relationship with the sales region by indicating that the sales region itself is the target of the promotion by means of the display data.

[0066] Thus, these representation data indicate, for example, that the advertisement relates to a specific supermarket or supermarket chain. If the mobile user device now enters the radio range of the sales area of ​​the supermarket in question, it is ascertained that the corresponding advertisement has been viewed using the user device or using a device associated with the user device, which is determined by the representation data. It is also possible to detect how many people have entered the sales area in total. This can be done, for example, also using the above-mentioned measures or using measures different from this, such as using a visitor counting system that is not based on radio signals. Thus, the effectiveness of the advertisement can be determined. In particular, it can be determined in this way: what proportion of the visitors to the sales area were provided with the corresponding advertisement, i.e. what effect the advertisement had on the visitor flow or the relevant visitor proportion.

[0067] According to a further aspect, it has proven to be advantageous to ascertain a relationship to a sales region by indicating that the product offered in the sales region is the subject of a promotion.

[0068] In this case, with the aid of the available representation data, it can be checked whether the promoted product indicated by the representation data is actually available in the product catalog of the relevant store. The already mentioned database listing these products can be used as a basis for this. This aspect can cover two situations, namely, firstly, the situation in which the product is actually available in the sales area, or secondly, the situation in which the product is in principle available in the sales area but just happens to be out of stock. Thus, this measure allows checking whether a visit to the sales area may have occurred because of the promotion of a product that is in principle located in the sales area by means of a placed advertisement.

[0069] These measures therefore allow the success of the advertisement to be detected and, if necessary, even measured, regardless of whether the relationship to the sales area relates to the sales area itself or to the products offered therein. To this end, it has proven to be advantageous if, when a relationship to the sales area is ascertained, i.e. to the sales area itself or to the products offered therein, the mobile user device and / or the data processing system generates advertising success data.

[0070] In principle, advertising effectiveness data may be generated solely by the mobile user device or solely by the data processing system and provided by the corresponding entity for further processing.

[0071] However, the advertising effectiveness data may also be generated by the user device and the data processing system for the same event, respectively. Therefore, a redundancy is provided, which prevents data loss or data tampering, because these advertising effectiveness data are generated not only on the client side, i.e., from the mobile user device side, but also on the seller side, i.e., from the data processing system side, and then, these advertising effectiveness data are provided by the corresponding entity for further processing and can be compared with each other to ensure the event.

[0072] As mentioned above, the advertising effectiveness data basically indicates that a visit to a sales area should be attributed to an advertisement previously presented to the user. In particular, the advertising effectiveness data can have, on the one hand, these representative data or a reference thereto, and these identification data and at least one piece of information identifying the sales area in which the reference to the sales area is ascertained. This data triplet enables, on the one hand, the computer responsible for placing the advertisement to ascertain that the advertisement placed has achieved the desired effect, such as the user's presence in the sales area. In the broadest sense, this serves as the basis for calculating what is known in professional jargon as a "conversion rate", which indicates the actual effect of the advertisement placed. However, on the other hand, this data triplet also enables the computer responsible for placing the advertisement to ascertain in which of these sales areas the advertisement has produced an effect, and thus forms the basis for a business model for charging for the effectiveness of the advertisement.

[0073] However, the subject matter discussed above can be further refined. According to this refinement of the subject matter, it can be provided that these advertising effectiveness data are generated when the distance between the mobile user device and the promoted product, which is determined according to the above discussion, determined based on at least one radio signal, which can be the above-mentioned beacon radio signal, is below a distance threshold. In this case, the above-mentioned sub-areas in the sales area can be characterized by different beacon radio signals, and individual products or product groups can be assigned to the individual radio ranges of these beacon radio signals. However, in this case, according to a preferred design form, electronic display devices are used, which themselves emit beacon radio signals, which are then evaluated at the mobile user device, or these electronic display devices receive and evaluate beacon radio signals emitted by the mobile user device.

[0074] The advertising effectiveness data generated based on the distance threshold can replace the previously generated advertising effectiveness data generated by ascertaining the presence in the sales area, or supplement it to the advertising effectiveness data set. Therefore, a more detailed and more accurate evaluation of advertising effectiveness can be made and incorporated into the business model when necessary.

[0075] According to another aspect, it can also be provided that advertising effectiveness data is generated when an electronic interaction occurs between a mobile user device and an electronic display device or interaction device assigned to the promoted product, such as a checkout terminal, preferably an electronic interaction leading to a purchase, and in particular when the electronic interaction occurs as an interaction based on near-field communication (NFC).

[0076] In this case, near field communication involves technology known, for example, in the context of the ISO / IEC 14443 or ISO / IEC 15693 standards.

[0077] This measure allows to further specifically answer the question whether the advertisement has produced the desired effect, i.e., whether, in the current context, it has produced the effect of booking the product for subsequent purchase or even the purchase itself. As mentioned above, the interactively triggered advertisement effectiveness data may replace the previously generated (or discussed) advertisement effectiveness data or may also supplement the set of advertisement effectiveness data. Thus, in this case, the advertisement effectiveness data may be the previously discussed purchase confirmation data or these advertisement effectiveness data may have purchase confirmation data or references to these purchase confirmation data.

[0078] The advertising effectiveness data generated in this way are transmitted by the mobile user device or the data processing system via a computer network, in particular the Internet, to the computer by which the advertisement is provided, and the computer is not assigned to the sales area or the operator of the sales area. This lays the foundation for various optimization measures on the computer side regarding the provision of advertisements and their contents, as well as the billing of advertising measures that may be performed taking into account the advertising effects indicated by the advertising effectiveness data. In this way, for example, the following distinction can be made in the billing model: the user of the mobile user device simply visits a store, that is, appears there, which may affect the generation of sales regardless of the promoted products. However, the billing model can also make the following distinction: the user moves to the vicinity of the promoted product in the sales area, but does not buy it for unknown reasons, however, the user's presence in the vicinity of the product may have promoted the sales of adjacent products. Finally, the billing model can also make the following distinction: taking into account the actual purchase of the targeted promoted products.

[0079] In order to gain a deeper understanding of the value chain, it can also be provided that, in addition to the above-mentioned situations which lead to the generation of advertising effectiveness data, the registration of the purchased product at the product manufacturer or the manufacturer's service partner or the product distributor (which is usually carried out via its website) also leads to the generation of advertising effectiveness data. This registration process can be carried out, for example, via a mobile user device or other devices associated therewith, or can also be carried out directly in the store with the aid of the store's data processing system, since - depending on the implementation of the method according to the invention - the representation data are available at the corresponding entity that puts it into use. In this registration process, the representation data can also be output together with the identification data to a data processing device that is contacted via the Internet for the registration, so that advertising effectiveness data can be generated there. This measure can also be used for the optimization mentioned in the previous paragraph and / or for the inclusion of the mentioned billing model, since the conversion rate can now also cover market participants that participate in connection with the product registration.

[0080] Finally, it should also be generally mentioned that the electronic devices in question (ESL, smartphone, tablet computer, video shelf rail, etc.) certainly have electronic components. The electronic components can be constructed discretely or by integrated electronic components or a combination of the two. Microcomputers, microcontrollers can also be used. Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), if necessary, combined with analog or digital electronic peripheral modules. Many of the functions mentioned in these devices are implemented by means of software, which is executed on the processor of the electronic component, if necessary in interaction with hardware components. Devices designed for radio communication usually have an antenna configuration for sending and receiving radio signals as a component of the transceiver module. These electronic devices can also have an internal power supply, which can be implemented, for example, using replaceable or rechargeable batteries. These devices can also be powered in a wired manner, either by an external power supply or by means of "Power over LAN".

[0081] These and other aspects of the invention are apparent from the accompanying drawings discussed below. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0082] In the following, the present invention is explained again in more detail based on exemplary embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to these exemplary embodiments. In this case, the same components are provided with the same reference numerals in the different drawings. Among them:

[0083] Figure 1 The application scenario of the function triggering method implemented by a computer is schematically shown;

[0084] Figure 2-Figure 4Three data flow diagrams are schematically shown for discussing different aspects of the method according to the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0085] Figure 1 A top view of a sales area 4 that occupies the interior of a supermarket is shown. In the sales area 4, a WLAN radio network is set up in a known manner by means of a first radio device (not shown), which extends a WLAN radio range 40 that substantially covers the sales area 4. In this case, routers and / or WLAN access points are used as first radio devices, which are mounted on the ceiling of the sales area 4.

[0086] There are three shelves 6 in the sales area 4, which are shown in a manner viewed from above. On each shelf 6, a plurality of electronic display units are mounted, which are implemented (in technical terms) as so-called "Electronic Shelf Labels", referred to as ESL 5A to 5L. ESL 5A to 5L are mainly shown at the front edge of the shelf 6 to facilitate the discussion of the invention.

[0087] In the present case, ESL 5A to 5L are designed to be battery-powered and respectively have an energy-saving screen 8 (see ESL 5F, where this figure mark is entered to represent all other ESLs) and a light-emitting diode (English "Light Emitting Diode"), abbreviated as LED 7 (see ESL 5C, where this figure mark is entered to represent all other ESLs).

[0088] The screen 8 can be implemented in principle as an electrophoretic screen with the aid of technologies that are known in principle, for example marketed under the terms "electronic paper" or "e ink" (which literally stands for electronic ink), and is (primarily) provided for: displaying product information and / or price information about products (not shown) corresponding to the respective ESL 5A to 5L and located in the respective shelf 6 around the respective ESL 5A to 5L.

[0089] The LED 7 is provided for directing the attention of people, in particular potential customers (but also staff, for example), to the respective ESL 5A to 5L and thus to the product corresponding thereto. For this purpose, the LED 7 is correspondingly actuated by the electronic components (not shown) of the ESL 5A-5L, which are designed to emit a human-perceptible light signal 70 in the visible wavelength range, such as a flashing red light.

[0090] Furthermore, the ESL 5A to 5L is designed for bidirectional communication via an ESL radio network, which is established by a second radio device, not shown, in the sales area 4. To this end, the design of the ESL 5A to 5L may have a known transceiver (not shown) matched to the ESL radio network, which has an antenna configuration.

[0091] In this case, routers and / or ESL access points are used as second radio devices, which are also installed on the ceiling of the sales area 4. They are operated in a different frequency band than the WLAN radio network in order to avoid interference. Alternatively, they can also be operated in the same frequency band, wherein measures are provided that ensure that the ESL-related radio traffic is not interfered with by the WLAN-related radio traffic.

[0092] For implementing the ESL radio network, for example the well-known ZigBee protocol or Bluetooth protocol or a proprietary protocol, such as known from WO 2015 / 124197 A1, can be applied. Via the ESL radio network, product and / or price information is provided to the ESLs 5A to 5L and transmitted to them and / or status information is queried therefrom.

[0093] In order to control the radio traffic and to control the internal signal and / or data processing and to actuate the screen 8 and the LED 7 , these ESLs 5A to 5L also have a processor unit which is a component of the electronic components of the ESL 5A to 5L.

[0094] In the present case, the ESL 5A to 5L is designed to communicate with the ESL access point via the Bluetooth protocol and thus also receive Bluetooth beacon radio signals from other devices. In the present context, it is a mobile user device 2, such as a smartphone, which is designed to emit Bluetooth beacon radio signals as a Bluetooth beacon. The emission of the Bluetooth beacon radio signal is indicated by means of a circle 20.

[0095] Furthermore, a data processing system 3 is provided in the sales area 4, which manages and / or controls the communication in the WLAN radio network and in the ESL radio network and is designed to communicate with devices within the radio range 40 via the WLAN radio network and to communicate with the ESLs 5A to 5L via the ESL radio network. The communication via the WLAN radio network here involves devices that are within the radio range 40 of the sales area 4 and are designed for corresponding radio communication. Fixed-installed components of the WLAN radio network (routers and / or WLAN access points) and fixed-installed components of the ESL radio network (routers and / or WLAN access points) are preferably connected to the data processing system 3 via lines.

[0096] If, for example, a mobile user device 2 forming the device is now moved from a first position 2A outside the sales area 4 to a second position 2B within the radio range 40 and then into the sales area 4, a radio-based communication can be established between the mobile user device 2 and the data processing system 3. The mobile user device 2 is a smartphone used by a user (not shown) who is a potential customer of the supermarket.

[0097] A store application provided by the supermarket operator is installed on the mobile user device 2, which allows the user to query product information, reserve the products to be purchased, and finally complete the purchase and pay for the purchase.

[0098] exist Figure 1 , a cloud-based computer 1 representing an Internet search engine is also shown, which is spatially independent of the sales area 4. The cloud-based computer 1 is designed or programmed to communicate with the data processing system 3 and / or with the mobile user device 2 via the Internet, which is also discussed below.

[0099] As described below, use Figure 1 In this case, it is assumed that when a user of a mobile user device 2 accesses an Internet page by means of his user device 2, the user is presented with a website provided by the computer 1 for the purpose of determining the effectiveness of the advertisement. Figure 1 , wherein the user is located at position 2A outside the sales area 4. Here, for example, by means of so-called Cookies, representation data are stored on the user device 2, which represent the advertisement viewed by the user or the user device 2.

[0100] Then, the user decides to go to a supermarket, and for this purpose moves the mobile user device 2 from a first position 2A to a second position 2B. That is, the user enters a sales area 4 of a supermarket with his smart phone.

[0101] In the following, two exemplary embodiments are now presented which illustrate how a function can be triggered after a mobile user device 2 has entered a sales area 4 or a radio range 40 by means of the method presented here.

[0102] According to one embodiment, the function is triggered by means of the data processing system 3, as described below.

[0103] If the mobile user device 2 enters the radio range 40 of the sales area 4, the data processing system 3 recognizes the mobile user device 2 because it logs into the WLAN network and transmits its identification data there. A store application is executed on the user device 2, which enables communication with the data processing system 3. With the aid of the store application, in addition to the identification data, representation data are now transmitted to the data processing system 3. However, it can also be provided that these identification data are transmitted to the data processing system 3 together with these representation data only during the use of the store application.

[0104] The data processing system 3 then checks these representation data to determine whether they relate to products offered in the sales area 4. In the present case, the advertisement relates to green socks, which are offered in the sales area 4 in the right-hand shelf 6 and are advertised with the ESL 5C, since the ESL 5C is logically associated in the database hosted by means of the data processing system 3. Therefore, the product and / or price information corresponding to the promoted product is displayed by the ESL 5C.

[0105] After ascertaining the location of the promoted product at ESL 5C, the function corresponding to these representation data is automatically triggered, wherein, in the present case, route description data are generated by the data processing system 3 and transmitted from the data processing system 3 to the mobile user device 2, where a human-perceptible route description is played on the screen of the mobile user device 2 with the aid of the store application, and the user only needs to follow the route description to reach the green socks.

[0106] Subsequently, first advertising effectiveness data are generated by the data processing system 3, which confirm that the user to whom the advertisement was previously presented has now also entered the sales area 4 corresponding to the advertisement. The first advertising effectiveness data are transmitted by the data processing system 3 to the computer 1 and identify the sales area 4 (i.e. the store) in which the advertising effectiveness was ascertained, the relevant user or his user device 2 (e.g. by means of identification data) and, if necessary, the advertisement for which the advertising effectiveness can be proved (e.g. by means of representation data). Then, a conversion rate can be generated at the computer 1, which indicates how many of the users to whom the advertisement was presented visited the supermarket, which can be used as an initial basis for billing for providing the advertisement, or can also be used as an initial basis for billing taking into account the advertising effectiveness that actually occurred.

[0107] Furthermore, the data processing system 3 (by means of the store application) instructs the mobile user device 2 to emit a Bluetooth beacon radio signal.

[0108] According to a first design variant, the Bluetooth beacon radio signal may contain a control code. This control code may be preset or preprogrammed individually for each ESL 5A to 5L in the system, for example, by means of the data processing system 3, i.e. all ESLs 5A to 5L may obtain this control code individually. In the simplest variant, this control code may also be given by a unique ESL identification code (e.g., an individual MAC address of the relevant ESL 5A to 5L), which each ESL 5A to 5L knows itself, so that no programming is required for each individual ESL 5A to 5L.

[0109] According to a first design variant, these ESLs 5A to 5L are designed to decode the control code received via the Bluetooth beacon radio signal and to react to it upon receipt of the correct, individual control code, ie to actuate the LED 7 upon receipt of this control code.

[0110] If the user moves with the user device 2 towards the corresponding ESL 5C, in which the user now knows in which shelf 6 he needs to look for green socks, the LED 7 starts to light up (flash) at the ESL 5C only when the ESL 5C receives a Bluetooth beacon radio signal from the mobile user device 2 with a control code determined for it.

[0111] If the Bluetooth beacon radio signal is emitted only with a relatively limited transmission power, the Bluetooth beacon radio signal can only be received when the user device 2 is relatively close to the relevant ESL 5C. On the other hand, the entry of the user device 2 into the surrounding area of ​​the ESL 5C can also be ascertained in the following way: the RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication) value of the received beacon radio signal is evaluated at the ESL 5c and the LED is controlled to flash only when this value exceeds a certain threshold, i.e., the threshold criterion is met.

[0112] As soon as such a "proximity relationship" occurs between the mobile user device 2 and the ESL 5C (which is characterized by the fulfillment of a threshold criterion), which applies, for example, to the mobile user device 2 being moved from position 2B to position 2C, this is communicated by the ESL 5C to the data processing system 3 and detected there as a further advertising success. Subsequently, second advertising success data are generated by the data processing system 3, which confirm that the user to whom the advertisement was previously provided is now also walking towards the promoted product within the sales area 4. In addition to the information mentioned in connection with the first advertising success data, these second advertising success data now also have information about the occurrence of the mentioned "proximity relationship" and are transmitted to the computer 1 as discussed in conjunction with the first advertising success data and are further processed there.

[0113] According to a second design variant, the Bluetooth beacon radio signal may contain a control code which, when received at the ESL 5c, triggers the flashing of the LED 7. However, in the present case, the control code is a control code which uniquely identifies the mobile user device 2. Thus, the control code may be a code which uniquely identifies the Bluetooth beacon, which is detected when entering the WLAN radio network and is transmitted to the correct ESL (here ESL 5C) according to the representation data by means of the data processing system 3. However, the control code may also be identification data detected when entering the WLAN radio network or when executing the store application, which identification data are transmitted to the correct ESL (here ESL 5C) according to the representation data by means of the data processing system 3.

[0114] Therefore, the detected control code is transmitted to the ESL 5C corresponding to these representative data with the aid of the data processing system 3, so that only this ESL 5C responds to the Bluetooth beacon radio signal of the mobile user device 2, while all other ESLs 5A, 5B, 5D to 5L ignore the Bluetooth beacon radio signal of the mobile user device 2.

[0115] All subsequent processes leading to the output of the second advertising effectiveness data are performed similarly to the description of the first design variant.

[0116] If the data processing system 3 subsequently detects a purchase of the promoted product, wherein the purchase is made directly at the ESL 5C, for example by NFC communication (i.e., NFC-based interaction), as discussed in the general description, or the purchase is made at a cash register terminal, the data processing system 3 can generate third advertising effectiveness data, which confirm that the user to whom the advertisement was previously provided has purchased the product promoted by the advertisement. In addition to the information mentioned in conjunction with the first and / or second advertising effectiveness data, these third advertising effectiveness data now also have information about the occurrence of the purchase and are transmitted to the computer 1 as discussed in conjunction with the first and / or second advertising effectiveness data and are further processed there.

[0117] Although the occurrence of the first, second and third advertising effectiveness data in the chronological order of events has been discussed in this embodiment, it should be mentioned here that these individual advertising effectiveness data may of course also appear independently of each other, i.e. isolatedly and therefore not in the described order in time.

[0118] According to another design variant, it can be provided that the ESL 5A to 5L is equipped with a Bluetooth beacon or its Bluetooth radio system is designed to emit a Bluetooth beacon radio signal. This is indicated by means of circles 50A to 50C. In this design variant, the mobile user device 2 is designed to receive and evaluate the received Bluetooth beacon radio signal in order to find out that a proximity relationship has occurred, which can be characterized as an effective advertising. In this design variant, this is achieved in the following way: when entering the sales area 4, the Bluetooth beacon code that characterizes the relevant ESL (here ESL 5C) is transmitted to the mobile user device 2 by the data processing system 3, so that the received Bluetooth beacon radio signal can be evaluated autonomously there. For the sake of completeness, it should also be mentioned here that the data processing system 3 not only knows the pairing between the product and the ESL 5A to 5L, but also knows the Bluetooth beacon code characterizing the corresponding ESL 5A to 5L, so that by means of the representation data it is first possible to retrieve the relevant product, on this basis the relevant ESL (ESL 5C) and on this basis the applied Bluetooth beacon code can be retrieved and this Bluetooth beacon code can be transmitted to the mobile user device 2.

[0119] Once the proximity relationship has now been ascertained at the mobile user device 2, the mobile user device communicates this to the data processing system 3, where all further processing steps are performed as discussed. Furthermore, at the mobile user device 2, the proximity relationship is ascertained by receiving a Bluetooth beacon radio signal with a Bluetooth beacon code previously obtained from the data processing system 3, which belongs to the ESL 5A to 5L (in the present case, ESL 5C) that is paired with the product promoted by the advertisement.

[0120] Although in the previous discussion emphasis was placed on finding out that the mobile user device 2 has entered the WLAN radio range of the first radio device, it should be mentioned here that this is not absolutely necessary. Instead, according to an alternative design, it can also be determined in a radio-based manner that the mobile user device 2 has entered the radio range of a second radio device, which is provided for communication with the ESL. The aspects discussed previously also apply similarly to this alternative design. Even a WLAN radio network may not be required.

[0121] Later, in Figures 2 to 4 In the present invention, the basic concepts of the present invention are discussed based on three data flow diagrams, in which the data flows between three entities, namely, a computer 1, a mobile user device 2 and a data processing system 3, are described.

[0122] Figure 2 A computer 1 outside the sales area 4, accessible via the Internet, and a mobile user device 2 at a location 2A are shown when querying a web page, which is visualized by an arrow P1, wherein identification data ID of the mobile user device 2 are also transmitted to the computer 1. In the course of displaying the web page, the computer 1 also transmits an advertisement to the user device 2, which is visualized by an arrow P2. In this case, the advertisement is represented by representation data RD, which in the present case are also provided by the computer 1. However, these representation data RD can also be created directly on the mobile user device 2 based on the obtained advertisement and transmitted to the computer 1 in association with the identification data ID for traceability.

[0123] Figure 2It is further shown how the mobile user device 2 moves from the position 2A to the position 2B, so that it is located within the sales area 4, in particular within the WLAN radio range 40. There, the mobile user device 2 outputs identification data ID to the data processing system 3. Having these identification data, the data processing system 3 checks via the WLAN radio network to which it is connected whether the representation data RD on which the first advertising success data WD1 are to be generated in the manner discussed above are present at the mobile user device 2 characterized by the identification data ID, i.e. whether the advertisement relates to the sales area 4 (store / supermarket etc.) in which the user device 2 is located. If this is the case, i.e. if the check provides a positive result, this is communicated from the data processing system 3 to the computer 1 according to a fourth arrow P4.

[0124] In this context it should be mentioned that the check can also be carried out without knowledge of the identification data ID or of their further processing, for example if a completely anonymous result is to be obtained.

[0125] Different from Figure 2 , Figure 3 It is shown that a mobile user device 3 located in a sales area 4 transmits only identification data ID to the data processing system 3. Having these identification data, the data processing system 3 checks by means of a query at the computer 1 (this is indicated by arrow P5, and wherein these identification data ID are transmitted to the computer 1) whether there are representation data RD belonging to these identification data ID at the computer 1. In the case where such representation data RD exist, these representation data together with the identification data ID are transmitted from the computer 1 to the data processing system 3 according to arrow P6, and there it is checked whether first advertising effectiveness data WD1 are to be generated based on these data in the manner previously discussed, i.e. whether the advertisement relates to the sales area 4 (store / supermarket, etc.) in which the user device 2 happens to be located, after which, as in combination with Figure 2 Processed as discussed.

[0126] Different from Figure 3 , Figure 4It is shown that the mobile user device 2 entering the sales area 4 transmits its identification data ID (together with the identifier, which uniquely characterizes the sales area 4 or its data processing system 3 so that the data processing system can be addressed from the computer 1) to the computer 1 according to the arrow P5, and then the computer 1 transmits the representation data RD corresponding to the identification data ID, together with the identification data ID, in the data set according to the arrow P6 to the data processing system 3 addressed by means of the identifier. After having the identification data ID previously obtained from the mobile user device 2, the data processing system 3 checks whether a data set matching the mobile user device 2 (the identity of the identification data ID) is obtained, based on which the first advertising effectiveness data WD1 is to be generated, and then as combined Figure 2 Processed as discussed.

[0127] Although the data flow diagram discussed previously is limited to the first advertising effectiveness data WD1, it should be mentioned here that the same situation also applies to the second advertising effectiveness data WD2 and to the third advertising effectiveness data WD3, which can be generated within the sales area 4 according to the implementation plan.

[0128] Finally, it should also be mentioned here that the present invention can also be applied to electronic display devices which are supplied in a wired manner both in terms of communication technology and in terms of power technology.

[0129] Finally, it is pointed out once again that the drawings described in detail above are only embodiments, which can be modified in various ways by a person skilled in the art without departing from the scope of protection of the present invention. For the sake of completeness, it is also pointed out that the use of the indefinite article "a" or "an" does not exclude that the relevant feature can also be present multiple times.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented function triggering method, wherein: The method comprises the following steps, namely: - determining in a radio-based manner that the mobile user equipment (2) is located at least in the vicinity of the sales area (4); - checking whether there are representation data (RD) representing an advertisement, in particular relating to the sales area (4) and / or to products, in particular products offered in connection with the sales area (4), the advertisement being transmitted via the Internet to the user device (2) itself or to another device associated with the user device (2); and - automatically triggering at least one function corresponding to said representation data (RD).

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: In the process of determining that the mobile user device (2) is at least located in the vicinity of the sales area (4), identification data (ID) is detected, the identification data (ID) identifying the user device (2) or a user of the user device (2).

3. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The automatic triggering of the function includes at least one of the following activities, namely: - Record the proximity relationships that occur; - automatically transmitting an electronic message to the mobile user device (2); - automatically transmitting the electronic message to the data processing system (3) of the operator assigned to said sales area (4), Therein, the recording and / or the automatic transmission of the electronic message represents a single event of the proximity relationship occurring or forms a representation of a plurality of such single events.

4. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: Automatically triggering at least one function corresponding to the representation data (RD) comprises associating the representation data (RD) with the product location data of the product to which the representation data (RD) relates, based on a database storing the product location of the products within the sales area (4) with the aid of product location data.

5. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: Automatically triggering at least one function corresponding to said representation data (RD) comprises automatically offering a discount on the product promoted by said advertisement for automatic use.

6. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: Automatically triggering at least one function corresponding to the representation data (RD) comprises: automatically generating purchase confirmation data after completing the purchase of the product in the sales area (4), wherein the purchase confirmation data records the relationship between the advertisement and the purchased product; and providing the purchase confirmation data for further processing.

7. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The radio-based determination is based on the following situation: position data representing the position of the mobile user device (2) are received by radio from a computer (1) accessible via the Internet, and it is determined there that the mobile user device (2) is at least located in the vicinity of the sales area (4), wherein the computer (1) knows the location of the sales area (4), but the computer (1) is not assigned to the sales area (4) or its operator.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein: The radio-based determination is based on the fact that the mobile user device (2) has entered a radio range (40; 50A-50C) which is covered by radio technology by a radio device assigned to the sales area (4).

9. The method according to claim 2 in combination with claim 8, wherein: The detected identification data (ID) are transmitted to a data processing system (3) assigned to the sales area (4) or to an operator of the sales area (4).

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein: The data processing system (3) checks whether the representation data (RD) exists.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein: In order to check whether the representation data (RD) exists, the data processing system (3) contacts the user equipment (2) via the radio means and obtains the representation data (RD) from the user equipment (2) and further processes the representation data (RD).

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein: The data processing system (3) first receives, in particular via the Internet, a data set having the identification data (ID) and associated representation data (RD) from a computer (1) that is different from the user device (2) or other devices associated therewith and is not assigned to the sales area (4) or the operator of the sales area, and stores the data set for subsequent processing, and after ascertaining that the user device (2) has entered the radio range (40; 50A-50C) of the radio device, checks whether data sets having those identification data (ID) that have also been transmitted when the user device (2) has entered the radio range (40; 50A-50C) are stored, and if the check result is positive, further processes the representation data (RD) of the data set.

13. The method according to claim 10, wherein: The user device (2) communicates the entry into the radio range (40; 50A-50C) to a computer (1), in particular via the Internet, which is not assigned to the sales area (4) or its operator and which stores the representation data (RD) determined for the user device (2), and the computer (1) transmits a data set having the identification data (ID) of the user device (2) that communicates the entry into the radio range (40; 50A-50C) and the relevant representation data (RD) to the data processing device (3), and the data processing device (3) checks whether a data set having the same identification data (ID) is received for the identification data (ID) of the user device (2) that has entered the radio range (40; 50A-50C), and further processes the representation data (RD) of the data set if the check result is positive.

14. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 13, wherein: The automatic triggering of the function is a human-perceivable playback having one of the following playback forms, namely: - Optical signal playback; - Text playback; - Audio playback; - Image playback; -Video playback.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein: The human-perceivable playback is determined in terms of content by the representation data (RD).

16. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 15, wherein: The human-perceptible playback is triggered on the user device (2).

17. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 15, wherein: The human-perceptible playback is triggered on an electronic display device (5A-5L), in particular, on an electronic shelf label (called "electronic shelf label" in English).

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein: The human-perceptible playback is automatically triggered selectively only for that or those electronic display devices (5C) that are content-affected by the representation data (RD) or by the advertisement represented by means of the representation data (RD).

19. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 18, wherein: The human-perceptible playback is automatically triggered based on the location of the user device (2) in the sales area (4).

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein: By means of Bluetooth beacons, it is determined whether a distance threshold between the electronic display device (5A-5C) and the user device (2) has been fallen below, which serves as a criterion for triggering the human-perceivable playback.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein: The electronic display device (5A-5C) has at least one LED (7) which is controlled to play a flashing light signal.

22. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 21, wherein: The human-perceptible playback is used to navigate to the location in the sales area (4) determined for the product to which the advertisement relates.

23. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 22, wherein: After it has been ascertained that the mobile user device (2) has entered a radio range (40; 50A-50C) assigned to the sales area (4), the mobile user device (2) and / or the data processing system (3) assigned to the sales area (4) checks whether the representation data (RD) are related to the sales area (4).

24. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 23, wherein: The representative data (RD) indicates that the sales area (4) itself is the object of promotion, and the relationship with the sales area (4) is found out.

25. The method according to any one of claims 23 to 24, wherein: The representation data (RD) indicates that the product provided in the sales area (4) is a promotion object, and the relationship with the sales area (4) is ascertained.

26. The method according to any one of claims 23 to 25, wherein: When the relationship with the sales area (4) is ascertained, the mobile user device (2) and / or the data processing system (3) generates advertising effectiveness data (WD1-WD3).

27. The method according to claim 26, wherein: The advertising success data (WD2) is generated when the distance between the mobile user device (2) and the promoted product determined based on at least one radio signal has fallen below a distance threshold.

28. The method according to any one of claims 26 to 27, wherein: The advertising effectiveness data (WD3) is generated when an electronic interaction occurs between the mobile user device (2) and the electronic display device (5A-5L) or interactive device assigned to the promoted product, preferably an interaction leading to a purchase, and in particular when the electronic interaction occurs as an interaction based on near field communication (NFC for short).

29. The method according to any one of claims 26 to 28, wherein: The advertising effectiveness data (WD1-WD3) is transmitted by the mobile user device (2) or the data processing system (3) to the computer (1), the advertisement is provided by the computer, and the computer is not assigned to the sales area (4) or the operator of the sales area.

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