Wireless Channel Allocation Method in an Electronic Display System

Abstract

A method for allocating radio channels in a system of electronic displays, the system comprising a data processing device, communication stations and electronic displays, each communication station being configured to use a radio channel defined by the data processing device for wireless communication with its assigned electronic display, the method comprising the following steps: defining a radio channel to be used based on radio channel activity data transmitted by the communication stations to the data processing device, the radio channel activity data describing radio activity detected on each radio channel; the radio channel activity data transmitted by each communication station is transmitted after each communication station has established an initial connection with at least one of the electronic displays by using one radio channel, the radio channel activity data being data describing radio activity detected after the establishment of this initial connection.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for allocating radio channels in an electronic display system, an electronic display system using or configured to use the method.

Background Art

[0002] A method for allocating radio channels in an electronic shelf label system (abbreviated as ESL system) is known, for example, from Patent Document 1. Therein, an ESL system is described in which ZigBee wireless communication is used and WiFi wireless communication is also performed in the same frequency band in a heterogeneous wireless system. This may cause interference to wireless traffic, especially in the ESL system.

[0003] The ESL system is connected to a central management server unit on the one hand and includes a plurality of gateway units on the other hand that develop the above-described ZigBee wireless communication with each group of electronic shelf labels (abbreviated as ESL), respectively.

[0004] In order to solve the problem of interference in the above-described wireless traffic, each gateway unit provides both wireless channel utilization information regarding the utilization of one or more channels and position information regarding the position of each gateway unit, and stipulates that these are transmitted to the management server unit. Based on this, the management server unit defines an advantageous radio channel used to establish a connection with the ESL for each gateway unit. Thereby, regarding the wireless connection between each gateway unit and the ESL, it is guaranteed to use a ZigBee wireless channel that does not coincide with the WiFi channel in use and provides the best reception sensitivity. Further, it is guaranteed that adjacent gateway units use different ZigBee wireless channels.

[0005] This known wireless channel allocation method has been proven to be disadvantageous in that it cannot address the changing forms of the ESL system and the WiFi system during the operation of the ESL system. Furthermore, the proposal to use GPS within a building such as a store where the ESL system is normally installed for the purpose of determining the location of each gateway unit is questionable.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0006]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0007] From the above, the problem of the present invention is to provide an improved wireless channel allocation method in the ESL system and an improved ESL system using or configured to use the method, thereby preventing the considered problems.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0008] This problem is solved by the method according to claim 1. Accordingly, the subject of the present invention is a method for wireless channel allocation in an electronic display system, wherein the system comprises a data processing device, a communication station and an electronic display unit, and each communication station is configured to use a wireless channel defined by the data processing device for wireless communication with the electronic display unit assigned to that communication station, and the following steps, namely, based on wireless channel activity data transmitted by the communication station to the data processing device, which describes the wireless activity detected on each wireless channel, defining the wireless channel to be used, in a method having the step of defining the wireless channel to be used, after each communication station has established a first connection with at least one of the electronic display units by using one wireless channel, the communication station transmits wireless channel activity data, and this wireless channel activity data is data that describes the wireless activity detected after the establishment of this first connection.

[0009] Furthermore, this problem is solved by the electronic display system according to claim 16. Accordingly, the subject of the present invention is an electronic display system comprising an electronic display unit and a communication station, wherein each communication station is configured to use a defined wireless channel for wireless communication with the electronic display unit assigned to that communication station, and comprises a data processing device, and this data processing device is configured to define, based on wireless channel activity data transmitted by the communication station to the data processing device, which describes the wireless activity on each wireless channel, the wireless channel to be used by each communication station, in an electronic display system, after each communication station has established a first connection with at least one of the electronic display units by using one wireless channel, these communication stations are configured to transmit wireless channel activity data, and these wireless channel activity data are data that describe the wireless activity detected after the establishment of this first connection.

[0010] Furthermore, this problem is solved by the usage form according to claim 17. Therefore, the subject of the present invention is a usage form in an electronic display system equipped with an electronic display unit, in which a communication station is used to transmit wireless channel activity data describing wireless activity on each wireless channel to a data processing device, and this data processing device is configured to define, based on the transmitted wireless channel activity data, the wireless channels to be used by each communication station for communication with the electronic display unit assigned to that communication station. In the usage form, after each communication station has established an initial connection with at least one of the electronic display units by using one wireless channel, the communication station is used to transmit wireless channel activity data, and these wireless channel activity data are data describing the wireless activity detected after the establishment of this initial connection.

[0011] The measures according to the present invention can be used, for example, in an electronic display system installed in a retail store. There are electronic display units configured to display product information and / or price information related to the products. These electronic display units are, for example, attached to the package of the product, attached to the front edge of the bottom of the shelf, placed on a product display stand, or otherwise fixed to the clothing.

[0012] Furthermore, the components of this system are a data processing device realized by a computer installed on-site, in particular, a server and software applications running thereon. This software application manages or provides visually perceivable information displayed using the electronic display unit, and in so-called shelf zoning, digitally displays the store, products and their locations, and the electronic displays attached to each product (therefore, also the locations of these displays). This data processing device can also be partially or fully realized by cloud-based software, and this is provided or run on a corresponding computer in a computing center and connected to the infrastructure of the electronic display system via the Internet.

[0013] The components of this system are further a plurality of communication stations distributed and installed within the store, also referred to as access points or gateway units for the electronic display units. These are connected to the data processing device via, for example, WLAN or otherwise in a wired connection form, and play the role of wirelessly communicating with the electronic display units. During the operation of this system, one group of electronic display units is logically assigned to a single communication station, which means that the electronic display units are registered with each communication station at the start of their operation and can receive the strongest wireless signal from the communication station with almost no interference in one of the available wireless channels. The communication station then communicates only with the electronic display units registered with it (especially without taking measures to change the assignment of the electronic display units), and in so doing, exchanges data between the data processing device and the electronic display units, thereby being able to query the status information of the electronic display units or otherwise change the display content of the screens of the electronic display units.

[0014] Here, by the measures according to the present invention, the advantage is obtained that an automatic adaptation of the wireless communication assignment is possible even after the first registration of the electronic display units at each communication station, i.e., even after the first start of operation of the electronic display system. This enables the communication stations included in the electronic display system to be automatically operated in each wireless channel with the least interference caused by another communication station or otherwise by another wireless device not belonging to this system (in some cases, also in a wireless channel that changes over time) during the progress of the operation of this system. That is, in this system, in order to ensure interference-free wireless operation, it is possible to change the assignment of the wireless channels during the progress of the operation to adapt to the wireless activities actually present in each wireless channel.

[0015] Further particularly advantageous embodiments and refinements of the invention will become apparent from the dependent claims and the following description. Here, with regard to the different categories of claims, it should be noted that the advantages and effects shown in connection with the claims of one category are also obtained or hold with respect to the measures of the claims of another category appropriately adapted to the claims of each category.

[0016] In order to acquire the wireless activity detected on each wireless channel, first of all, it is necessary to detect the wireless activity on the corresponding wireless channel. This can be implemented in various ways, as will be discussed in detail below.

[0017] Thus, for example, the detection of wireless activity on one wireless channel can be carried out using the communication station at the location of each communication station.

[0018] In this electronic display system, since different wireless channels in one frequency band are available for communication, wireless activity can be carried out for a number of, preferably, pre-defined wireless channels. In this case, wireless channels not directly utilized by the electronic display system for communication between the communication station and the electronic display unit can also be included together. However, here, preferably, only each pre-defined wireless channel for utilization by the electronic display unit is considered in order to limit or minimize the detection burden.

[0019] To detect wireless activity, a communication station selects one wireless channel and receives any wireless signals that may occur on this wireless channel. If such a wireless signal occurs, the corresponding wireless channel activity data describes the wireless activity detected on the wireless channel, for example, as representing information regarding the signal strength of the wireless signal it received, including information regarding the origin of the wireless signal, or both (to the extent possible based on the nature or information content of the wireless signal). Here, for the sake of completeness, it should be mentioned that if no determined wireless signal occurs, the communication station simply receives only noise, and in this case, the corresponding wireless channel activity data describes the wireless channel as unused.

[0020] Communication stations are generally fixed firmly inside a store, for example, on the ceiling of the store, arranged at appropriately large intervals from each other, so that as a result, each communication station can wirelessly cover the spatial area of the store for communication with the electronic display unit assigned to it. Since the positions of the communication stations are known, by this measure, wireless activity can be detected with appropriately coarse granularity for each spatial area centered on the communication station, and of course, only the wireless signals arriving at the location of the communication station can actually be detected by that communication station.

[0021] This detected wireless activity may, for example, be related to or describe the wireless activity of another communication station located away from the communication station and using the same wireless channel as the communication station. Such another communication station transmits based on a relatively simple and basically known communication protocol in the electronic display system, so it can be identified as a component of the electronic display system relatively easily. These can also be considered to be identifiable based on uniquely identifiable data or data structures.

[0022] However, the detected wireless activity may be caused by another wireless communication device, such as a WLAN access point placed inside the store. Even when such a WLAN access point wirelessly communicates on a wireless channel different from the wireless channel on which the communication station is just in the receiving mode, the generated WLAN wireless signal sideband may interfere with the communication between the communication station and the electronic display unit assigned thereto. This is particularly true for the communication from the electronic display unit in the transmission mode to the communication station in the receiving mode. In this situation, the sideband wave generated from the wireless communication caused by the WLAN access point and reaching up to the ESL wireless channel may become dominant compared to the wireless signal transmitted by the electronic display unit on the ESL wireless channel. This may make it impossible to receive the wireless signal transmitted from the electronic display unit at the communication station, and thus may significantly impede the wireless traffic between the communication station and the electronic display unit assigned thereto.

[0023] A WLAN access point can be installed spatially separated from the communication station of an electronic display system. In contrast, in a special implementation configuration of the communication station, the communication station includes a first wireless communication module for wirelessly communicating with an electronic display unit based on a first communication protocol, and a second wireless communication module different from the first wireless communication module for wirelessly communicating with a device other than the electronic display unit based on a second communication protocol different from the first communication protocol. In this special implementation configuration of the communication station, in fact, it is a combined communication station in which different wireless communication modules are combined or integrated into one device or device housing. Such a communication station can include an ESL communication module as the first wireless communication module and, for example, a WLAN communication module as the second wireless communication module. To be perfect, it should be mentioned here that, furthermore, the second wireless communication module can also be configured to wirelessly communicate based on another specification or another standard such as ZigBee or Bluetooth. In this combined communication station, the two communication modules can be realized by structurally or physically basically separate electronic components. However, advantageously, this combined communication station includes a single, i.e., commonly used computer-type hardware platform for the two communication modules, and two different software drivers for realizing the functions of each communication module are installed and operated thereon to realize the different functions of the two communication modules, especially the communication protocols. Furthermore, this combined communication station can include two different configurations of transceiver units coupled to the common hardware platform, and each of these transceiver units forms a physical wireless interface for each communication module. These units can also include, for example, electronic devices specialized for communication modules, such as modulators and demodulators, antennas or antenna resonance circuits and their equivalents.

[0024] In this configuration, the communication station, here the ESL communication module, does not need to receive a wireless signal in order to detect, for example, the wireless activity of a WLAN communication module integrated into a combined communication station. Rather, integrating the two communication modules into one device enables the detection of wireless activity in the first wireless communication module by querying the wireless channel utilization from the second wireless communication module via the (in the combined communication station) hardware interface and / or software interface.

[0025] In the store, different variants of communication stations can be installed, such as, for example, a certain number of considered combined communication stations and another number of "simple" communication stations that only serve the role of wireless communication with the electronic display unit.

[0026] Regardless of how the wireless activity is actually detected, the wireless activity detected on each wireless channel by different communication stations is transmitted as wireless channel activity data from the communication stations to a central data processing device.

[0027] For each communication station that is a combined communication station, the data processing device defines both a first radio channel to be used by a first radio communication module and a second radio channel to be used by a second radio communication module that, in particular, does not substantially overlap with the first radio channel even considering sidebands. Therefore, not only can a centrally controlled radio channel allocation for "simple" communication stations be realized in a simple manner, but also the radio channel allocations of the ESL communication module and the WLAN communication module in the combined communication station can be centrally controlled and, in some cases, continuously adapted and thereby optimized over time. This is achieved in particular by considering the radio channels to be used by "simple" ESL communication modules such as the ESL communication module constructed in the combined communication station, and as a result, in particular, even if different communication modules are extremely spatially close within the combined communication station, sufficiently interference-free ESL radio traffic is automatically guaranteed.

[0028] However, if each communication station is used only to detect radio activity at each location of the communication station, radio activity that is far from the communication station or in the peripheral regions of each spatial area covered by radio technology can only be estimated roughly or not at all. In this case, in particular, information regarding the actual radio activity at the location of each electronic display unit assigned to the communication station cannot be presented. These electronic display units are distributed within the store in the spatial area covered by radio technology by each communication station according to each topology (the arrangement form of the shelves, shelf rods, or bottom of the shelves on which they are fixed). Since the transmission power of these radio signals is usually very small, the electronic display units are positively inhibited from radio signals by interfering radio signals that are in the radio signals they use.

[0029] Therefore, it has been proven to be particularly advantageous to detect wireless activities in a wireless channel using an electronic display unit at the location of each electronic display unit, and transmit the wireless activities existing at the location of each electronic display unit as wireless channel activity data together with a display unit identifier for identifying each electronic display unit to a data processing device via a communication station assigned to the electronic display unit. By this measure, the wireless activities of the electronic display unit can be very strongly associated and specified at each location. For this purpose, it is emphasized that no other auxiliary measures such as manual measurement of wireless activities in the store are required. Rather, the electronic display unit itself is used as a peripheral exploration device for detecting wireless activities.

[0030] Particularly advantageously, wireless communication between one of the communication stations and the electronic display unit assigned thereto is performed based on a time-division multiplexing communication system. In this system, a fixed number of time slots, in particular, a constant number of time slots per time slot cycle, are provided in a repeating sequence for communication between the communication station and the electronic display unit assigned thereto. Each time slot is characterized by a unique time slot symbol. Each electronic display unit autonomously confirms synchronization with the communication station and, in some cases, is assigned to exactly one time slot by using the time slot symbol for communication with the communication station. In this case, it has been proven to be particularly advantageous to detect wireless activities in the wireless channel using the electronic display unit during one time slot. By this measure, the advantageous effect is obtained that the time point or time range for detecting wireless activities, which can be substantially associated with the time slot, is precisely defined by the inherently fixed structure of the time-division multiplexing communication system. That is, the electronic display unit must not deviate from the strict timing of the time-division multiplexing communication system, but can perform the detection of wireless activities in a state synchronized with the communication station. Therefore, it is possible to omit a relatively energy-consuming new synchronization that would otherwise be required after the detection of wireless activities, which has a positive effect on the operating time of the energy storage unit of the electronic display unit, for example, the battery.

[0031] Advantageously, a proprietary time-division multiplexing communication method is adopted. In this method, for example, within n seconds, for example, within 15 seconds, in a repeating sequence, m time slots, for example, 255 time slots are used. n seconds form one time slot cycle. That is, in this time-division multiplexing communication method, m time slots are available for communication with the electronic display unit within one time slot cycle. Each of the electronic display units can be assigned to one of these time slots, and multiple electronic display units can also be assigned to one predetermined time slot.

[0032] Each electronic display unit basically comprises a wireless communication layer, also called a transceiver, and a logic layer that interacts with it and provides logical functions to the electronic display unit. This logic layer can be realized entirely by hardware, or can comprise a microprocessor and a memory element, or a microprocessor integrating a memory element, and as a result, it is possible to operate software stored in these memory elements. The electronic display unit uses its wireless communication layer to receive a wireless signal, processes the received data contained in the wireless signal using the logic layer, and in some cases, generates response data using the logic layer and outputs the response data as a wireless signal again via its wireless communication layer. This wireless communication layer comprises wireless communication means and means for converting an analog signal into a digital signal and vice versa. This can be, for example, a modulator, a demodulator, an antenna resonance circuit, an antenna, etc.

[0033] Such an electronic display unit can be provided with an energy storage unit, for example, a battery or a solar panel combined with a rechargeable battery, for its energy supply. It is also possible to supply energy to the electronic display unit by receiving a wireless signal, which is well-known, for example, by NFC technology or RFID technology, or otherwise applied in the context of "Power over WiFi".

[0034] The electronic display unit has various operating states in order to operate as energy - efficiently as possible. In the active state, the energy consumption of the electronic display unit is relatively large. This active state exists, for example, when data is transmitted or received, when the display is updated, when the battery voltage is measured, etc. In contrast, in the sleep state, the energy consumption is relatively small. Advantageously, in the sleep state, as many electronic components as possible are disconnected from the power supply, stopped, or at least operated in a mode with as little energy requirement as possible. The active state mainly occurs to communicate with the communication station in a specific time slot for the electronic display unit. In the active state, the electronic display unit, for example, receives a command from the communication station, and in some cases, also receives received data and indicates a ready - to - receive state for processing using the logical layer. In the active state, it is also possible to generate transmission data using the logical layer and communicate with the communication station. Outside the specific time slot for the electronic display unit, the electronic display unit mainly operates in a sleep state with energy savings. In the sleep state, the logical layer or the time control layer performs only the activities necessary for the timing of real - time wake - up. Thus, the electronic display unit is ready to receive a synchronization data signal and / or communicate with the communication station by the next specific time slot for that electronic display unit. To operate energy - efficiently and thereby achieve the longest possible operating time of the electronic display unit, a basic operating policy is obtained that keeps the synchronized electronic display unit in the sleep state for as long as possible and operates in the active state for as short a time period as possible only when data transmission with the communication station is absolutely necessary.

[0035] To check the synchronization with the communication station, it is sufficient if each electronic display unit assigned to the communication station indicates a specific time slot for the electronic display unit and, advantageously, detects a time slot symbol transmitted as a component of the synchronization data signal at the start of the time slot. That is, each of the electronic display units individually checks the generation of the time slot symbol related to that electronic display unit, identifies the time slot symbol related to that electronic display unit, and defines the next wake-up time point to match the timing of the time-division multiplex communication system set by the communication station. In this case, it is quite sufficient if the time slot symbol uniquely identifies the respective time slot, for example, by an individual time slot identifier for each time slot. To operate the electronic display unit in synchronization with the communication station, it is not necessary to encode further information in the synchronization data signal. The electronic display unit autonomously checks the synchronization with the communication station only depending on the situation of detecting the time slot symbol. This time slot symbol occurs at the time point or within the expected time window expected by the electronic display unit and indicates a specific time slot for that electronic display unit

[0036] As described above, after the electronic display unit has confirmed synchronization, since the next wake-up time is automatically known according to the known time slot pattern of the time division multiplexing communication method, basically, it is sufficient if the electronic display unit switches back to the sleep state again. Therefore, the definition of a new wake-up time can be limited to, for example, newly starting the time control hierarchy (e.g., timer) of the electronic display unit according to the timing parameters that have already been used for the previous switch from the sleep state to the active state. After that, the electronic display unit switches back to the sleep state, is released by time control, wakes up again at the new wake-up time in the next time slot cycle, and stays in the sleep state until it switches from the sleep state to the active state. However, the electronic display unit does not necessarily have to stay in the sleep state during the remaining time period of a specific time slot for the electronic display unit, and during that time slot or during the time slot cycle, it can also handle other issues in the active state, such as detecting wireless activity on one or more of the available wireless channels.

[0037] Furthermore, in relation to this time-division multiplex communication system, in time slots not utilized for communication between a communication station and an electronic display unit assigned to the communication station, which also performs detection of radio activity, it is advantageous to perform detection of radio activity on the radio channel using the electronic display unit. Thereby, it is ensured that the electronic display unit can actually receive or identify radio signals not resulting from the communication station to which the detecting electronic display unit is assigned or the electronic display unit assigned to that communication station. That is, in the radio silence time, the radio silence time is dominant between the communication station and the electronic display unit assigned thereto. Since the data processing device and / or the communication station knows the assignment of the electronic display unit belonging thereto in the time slots of the time-division multiplex communication system provided by the communication station, it is possible to program the group of electronic display units (for example, by a command) for the purpose of using the time slots of its own future communication when no radio traffic is occurring between the communication station and any electronic display unit assigned thereto, in order to "eavesdrop" on radio signals of other communication devices (other communication stations, electronic display units other than those in the group of the communication station, WLAN routers, etc.). This enables maximum flexibility when using the time slots available for detecting radio activity. However, thereby, in order to perform detection of radio activity, the electronic display unit needs to be called using radio technology commands in its predetermined time slot, that is, in some cases, it is necessary to receive and decode a command that causes the electronic display unit to perform a receiving activity consuming energy in a time slot different from the predetermined time slot, so an increase in energy consumption also occurs simultaneously. The rapidly increasing communication demand in this programmed time slot may cause unnecessary detection of radio activity in this time slot, and thereby, naturally, unnecessary energy consumption in the detecting electronic display unit also occurs simultaneously.

[0038] Accordingly, it can be particularly advantageous to perform the detection of wireless activity in a wireless channel using an electronic display unit in a predefined time slot of a time slot cycle, particularly in the last time slot. Thus, for example, in this time division multiplexing communication system, by definition, a predetermined time slot can be reserved in advance for detecting wireless activity. For example, all the electronic display units assigned to one communication station can utilize this pre-reserved time slot for detecting wireless activity, specifically, without the need to program the electronic display unit in advance by applying a command with an energy burden for that purpose. Basically, any time slot can be reserved in advance for this measure. However, for the reason of facilitating the management of available time slots, it has been proven advantageous to allocate the time slot immediately preceding the last time slot of the time slot cycle to the electronic display units assigned to the communication station, that is, to sequentially assign that time slot to the electronic display units and utilize only the last time slot in the order of time slots for detecting wireless activity.

[0039] Advantageously, the wireless activity detected by the electronic display unit for one or more different, advantageously predefined channels is stored using wireless channel activity data. In the case of wireless communication in an electronic display system, since multiple channels are available and the wireless activity at each time for these channels must be revealed, this has been proven to be advantageous in this regard. In particular, for each electronic display unit (operating on a battery), in any configuration for detecting wireless activity at its location, it is advantageous to consider only the wireless channels in a predefined list in order to keep within limits the energy requirement for detecting wireless activity as well as the energy requirement for the process of storing wireless channel activity data. Therefore, for each electronic display unit that detects wireless activity on one of the wireless channels, a table can be created, or rather such a data structure can be created, that describes the wireless activity of the respective wireless channel that can be confirmed at the time of detection at the location of that electronic display unit.

[0040] The transmission of the stored wireless channel activity data can basically also be performed at the end of each time slot used for detecting wireless activity. However, if a large number of electronic display units are involved in the detection in this time slot, this may cause the time length of the time slot to be too short in some cases for all the electronic display units to transmit their stored wireless channel activity data within this time slot.

[0041] Therefore, it has been proven to be particularly advantageous to transmit the wireless channel activity data stored in the electronic display unit to the communication station in the time slot assigned to each of the electronic display units. Therefore, the advantageous transmission of the wireless channel activity data is performed in a predefined time slot for each electronic display unit. When exactly this transmission has to be executed can be situation-dependent, and as a result, this transmission can also be carried out at a significantly later point in time, i.e., in a future time slot cycle, when prioritizing other processing technical issues or otherwise communication issues.

[0042] However, other insights can also be obtained by detecting wireless activity at each location by one of the communication stations in the ESL system.

[0043] Therefore, for example, a distance evaluation can be generated that evaluates the distance between the receiving communication station and another communication station, or a local neighborhood relationship can be discovered. This evaluation is understood, for example, as whether the distance is too short or sufficient.

[0044] That is, since the receiving communication station clearly understands the system and details of the time-division multiplexing communication method, it can easily distinguish whether the received radio signal or its content is the radio signal of the ESL or the radio signal of another communication station based on the received radio signal or its content. The other communication station of the ESL system, that is, the transmitting communication station, transmits a synchronization data signal (also called "beacon" in technical terms) with strict regularity as is well known, and this signal can be distinguished by the ESL of the ESL system. The communication stations of the ESL system can also be uniquely identified by their individual identifiers in each ESL system.

[0045] The finding that the radio activity confirmed in the observed radio channel is due to the direct reception of the radio signal of another communication station of the ESL system directly leads to the confirmation that there is another communication station whose transmission range reaches the range where the radio activity is detected, and the confirmation that the other communication station is using the radio channel being observed. This is because both communication stations are located too close to each other spatially and may be interfered with during wireless communication on their own radio channels, or in order not to use the radio channel by the receiving communication station, or to change the radio channel for another, that is, the transmitting communication station, it can be used.

[0046] On the other hand, the finding that the wireless activity confirmed on the observed wireless channel is solely due to the wireless signal of the ESL assigned to a communication station different from the receiving-side communication station leads to the confirmation that this different communication station is located at a sufficiently far distance such that the wireless signal directly transmitted from that communication station does not significantly interfere with the reception of the ESL wireless signal transmitted from the ESL exactly assigned to the communication station detecting the wireless activity. That is, in this case, it is indirectly confirmed by an indirect method that another communication station is present nearby, but its transmission range is not sufficient for directly receiving that wireless signal at the communication station investigating the wireless signal. Rather, since the response wireless signal from the ESL assigned to this different communication station is perceivable as a response to the wireless signal (e.g., synchronization data signal) of this different communication station, it is presumed that this different communication station exists. In this situation, basically, switching of the wireless channel is not required. However, if the wireless signals of the ESL assigned to such a different communication station occur frequently, this can also be utilized as an indicator that it is better to switch the wireless signal in order to continuously prevent interference.

[0047] According to the system described above, it is also possible to confirm whether the wireless activity confirmed by the wireless signal originates from its own ESL system or whether the confirmed wireless activity originates from another, for example, neighboring ESL system. And this situation may occur when two stores are located adjacent to each other and separate ESL systems are operating in each of these stores. This different ESL system can be identified, for example, based on the known system of time-division multiplexing communication, on the basis of the occurrence of wireless activity of unknown communication stations and ELSs. If this is confirmed, the ESL system implementing the measures according to the present invention can, on the one hand, reduce or prevent interference by wireless signals originating from the rooms of its own store and, on the other hand, also reduce or prevent interference by other wireless signals originating from the rooms of another store by performing wireless channel allocation.

[0048] To obtain a description with predictive power for wireless activities on each wireless channel, it has been demonstrated that it is suitable for this purpose that the detection of wireless activities includes receiving a wireless signal and determining a received signal strength indicator (abbreviated as RSSI) for the received wireless signal. This can be realized by the electronic circuit of each receiving device.

[0049] As described above, the wireless activities related to each wireless channel detected in the electronic display system are transmitted to the central data processing device, where they are respectively assigned to the spatial positions where they are detected in the three-dimensional digital model of the store. Therefore, a three-dimensional map of the wireless activities within the store can be created. Starting from this, the definition of the wireless channels to be used by each communication station for wireless communication with the electronic display units assigned to each communication station is performed by the data processing device so that wireless activities other than the wireless activities of each communication station or the electronic display units assigned thereto in the defined wireless channels can be substantially ignored. This is basically achieved by selecting wireless channels that are as far apart from each other as possible within the frequency band for spatially adjacent communication stations. In particular, when strong-power WLAN wireless activities occur in one or more of the ESL wireless channels, the spatial distribution of the ESL wireless channels to be used is modified so that the sidebands of the WLAN signals at each location of the electronic display unit no longer play any role in the ESL wireless signals to be used. In some cases, a modified WLAN wireless channel assignment is also defined to solve the optimization problem. That is, adjacent wireless channels in one frequency band should preferably be used at locations that are as far apart from each other geographically as possible. That is, the assignment of the wireless channels to be used in the future by the communication stations is optimized from this perspective and, as already described, can also affect the wireless channel occupancy pattern of the WLAN wireless system, which is generally dominant in terms of the wireless signal level, in order to minimize or suppress the possibility of interference as much as possible. Generally observed, this optimization process starts from the current actual spatial distribution of the wireless channels being used and leads to the future target spatial distribution of the wireless channels to be used. In this case, for each device, i.e., for the communication stations and, in some cases, also for the combined communication stations, new wireless channels to be used are determined by the data processing device, and this is represented by the wireless channel definition data.

[0050] To make the newly determined wireless channel, i.e., the wireless channel to be used in the future, accessible to the device, the definition of the wireless channel to be used includes transmitting wireless channel definition data that can be used in the communication station to the communication station to set the wireless channel to be used. In this connection, it should be further mentioned that when the currently used wireless channel and the wireless channel to be used in the future are identified, the transmission of the wireless channel definition data to the device can be omitted.

[0051] Significantly, the same can be said for the WLAN access point or WLAN communication module to which the WLAN wireless channel to be used is transmitted using the above wireless channel definition data after being determined by the data processing device, which causes a channel switch there.

[0052] Here, when the communication station receives an instruction to use a wireless channel different from the currently used wireless channel, the communication station easily switches the wireless channel. At this moment, the communication station surely loses its connection to the electronic display unit. However, the electronic display unit has already been reported or registered in advance with the communication station. Here, the electronic display unit scans the wireless channels available to itself (which can be executed using a unique communication station identifier) until it rediscovers the communication station, and reconnects to the communication station using the wireless channel used by the communication station. That is, in this process, the electronic display unit is not newly registered. Rather, its registration remains maintained. Instead, the communication station can be defined to send a command for switching the wireless channel including a description of the new wireless channel to the assigned electronic display unit, possibly after announcing the time point or time range indicating the wireless channel switch over time before switching the wireless channel itself.

[0053] It has been proven particularly advantageous for the detection of wireless activity and the transmission of corresponding wireless channel activity data to be repeated in a temporal sequence. This also enables the definition of the wireless channels to be utilized to be pseudo-continuously, i.e., repeatedly executed during the operation of the electronic display system. Therefore, this electronic display system can perform autonomous, i.e., automatic, wireless channel allocation according to the changed or changing wireless technical basic conditions or incidental conditions even during operation.

[0054] The question of when and under what circumstances the update of the wireless channel allocation should be carried out can depend on various factors.

[0055] In this way, for example, the detection of wireless activity in each wireless channel can be automatically carried out at regular intervals to investigate whether a change in the wireless channel occupancy pattern is necessary. This regularity can be associated, for example, with each time slot cycle or multiple time slot cycles. Obviously, other temporal relationships such as minutes, seconds, etc., or one day, a part of a day, or several days, etc. can also regularly be detected and serve as a time reference for investigating whether a new wireless channel occupancy pattern is necessary. In this case, after the necessity of changing the wireless channel occupancy pattern is confirmed at shorter time intervals, measures can also be taken to investigate the necessity until it is found that the necessity for further changes in the wireless channel occupancy pattern is no longer necessary because no expected improvement in the reception situation can be obtained by such further changes. In a further sequence, frequent detection and investigation are carried out again at longer time intervals. In particular, by being able to change the time reference, on the one hand, the necessary changes in the wireless channel occupancy pattern can be caused as quickly as possible, and on the other hand, when there is no need for further rapid changes, an energy-saving operation of the electronic display unit can be ensured.

[0056] Triggers related to wireless channel occupancy patterns to be newly defined can be considered to be various situations that require changes in wireless channel allocation. Thus, for example, the construction of a wireless infrastructure in a store can serve as a trigger for this purpose, because some electronic display units, or otherwise communication stations, receive unacceptable interference signals in the wireless channels they use, and in response, optimization in the electronic display system, i.e., updating the wireless channel allocation, should be carried out so that those interference signals no longer occur or at least are minimized, which is immediately confirmed (by repeated automatic detection of wireless activity). For example, changes in equipment such as replenishment, removal, or relocation of product shelves where the electronic display units are fixed can also be considered triggers for updating the wireless channel allocation in this case, because some of the electronic display units can detect changes in wireless activity in the wireless channels they use at their new positions.

[0057] These and other aspects of the present invention will become apparent from the drawings to be considered below.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0058] Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, the present invention will be described in detail again based on embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. In this case, the same reference numerals are given to the same components in different drawings.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0059] FIG. 1 shows, for example, the wireless channels in the 2.4 GHz frequency band applied in relation to the electronic display system 9 (hereinafter abbreviated as system 9) schematically illustrated in FIG. 2. That is, FIG. 1 shows the frequency from 2,400 MHz to 2,480 MHz along the horizontal axis and the transmission power of a wireless device or its wireless signal within the range of 10 mW to 100 mW or within the range of 10 dBm to 20 dBm along the vertical axis.

[0060] In this frequency band, on the one hand, the first, sixth, and eleventh WiFi wireless channels 71, 72, and 73 with a typical bandwidth of 20 - 22 MHz according to the IEEE 802.11 recommendation are plotted. The remaining WiFi wireless channels are not used based on the IEEE 802.11 recommendation and are therefore not plotted. Further, for each of the WiFi wireless channels 71 - 73, the upper and lower sidebands 71A and 71B, 72A and 72B, and 73A and 73B are shown respectively.

[0061] Furthermore, in this frequency band, the 0th to 10th ESL wireless channels 80 to 90 with a bandwidth of 1 MHz, which are display unit - available wireless channels (hereinafter abbreviated as ESL wireless channels) for the electronic display units 100 to 699 (see FIG. 2), are plotted. These advantageous ESL wireless channels, namely, the 3rd ESL wireless channel 83, the 5th ESL wireless channel 85, the 8th ESL wireless channel 88, the 9th ESL wireless channel 89, and the 10th ESL wireless channel 90 are outside the bandwidths of the three recommended WiFi wireless channels 71, 72, and 73. However, from FIG. 1, in a location - disadvantageous configuration in the system 9, it is clearly understood that the wireless signals of the above - mentioned advantageous ESL wireless channels 83, 85, 88, 89, and 90 are covered by the strong - power side - band signals of the recommended WiFi wireless channels 71, 72, and 73. This problem is solved by the present invention, and the present invention will be described in detail below.

[0062] Hereinafter, a configuration example of the present system 9 will be considered with reference to FIG. 2.

[0063] FIG. 2 shows a data processing device 8 (hereinafter abbreviated as server 8), a WLAN access point 7 that can utilize the three recommended WiFi wireless channels 71 to 73 connected to the server 8 in a wired connection form, and six communication stations 1 to 6 (hereinafter abbreviated as ESL access points 1 to 6) also connected to the server 8 in a wired connection form.

[0064] Here, it is assumed that the 1st WiFi wireless channel 71 is assigned to the WLAN access point 7.

[0065] When the system 9 is installed, the ESL access points 1 to 6 are operated in sequence. At that time, each of the ESL access points 1 to 6 conducts an investigation of five ESL wireless channels 83, 85, 88, 89, and 90 that are outside the advantageous, i.e., recommended, WiFi wireless channels, regarding their occupancy or use by the other ESL access points 1 to 6. First, an available (free, i.e., not used by another ESL access point) ESL wireless channel 83, 85, 88, 89, or 90 is selected for its own wireless traffic. Thus, in this example, the 3rd ESL wireless channel 83 is occupied by the 1st ESL access point 1, the 5th ESL wireless channel 85 is occupied by the 2nd ESL access point 2, the 8th ESL wireless channel 88 is occupied by the 3rd ESL access point 3, the 9th ESL wireless channel 89 is occupied by the 4th ESL access point 4, the 10th ESL wireless channel 90 is occupied by the 5th ESL access point 5, and the 3rd ESL wireless channel 83 is occupied by the 6th ESL access point 6.

[0066] Furthermore, Figure 2 shows a larger number of electronic display units (hereinafter abbreviated as ESLs) 100 - 199, 200 - 299, 300 - 399, 400 - 499, 500 - 599, and 600 - 699. These ESLs 100 - 699 are grouped into groups 10, 20 - 60 and are represented by different symbols (circles, squares, triangles, stars, semi - circles, and crosses) clustered around approximately the locations of the ESL access points 1 - 6. The spatial overlap of these groups 10 - 60 can exist in the peripheral region, as is clear from Figure 2. In this example, for simplicity, 100 ESLs are always deployed for each of the groups 10 - 60, and the actual number of ESLs applied can be different for each group, and of course, can deviate from the values used here.

[0067] The first group 10 is wirelessly assigned to the first ESL access point 1, the second group 20 is wirelessly assigned to the second ESL access point 2,..., and the sixth group 60 is wirelessly assigned to the sixth ESL access point 3. This wireless assignment is established during the installation or startup of the system 9, and each of the ESLs 100 to 699 has reported to the ESL access points 1 to 6 that are wirelessly available as well as possible. As a criterion for determining that it is wirelessly available as well as possible, for example, it is possible to adopt selecting the advantageous ESL wireless channels 83, 85, 88, 89, 90 with the strongest wireless signals.

[0068] Here, for the purpose of visualizing the groups 10 to 60, it should be mentioned that the quadrilaterals indicated by the dashed-dotted lines are selected. However, this only serves the role of schematically illustrating. In the actual grouping, usually a three-dimensional distribution such as the ESLs 100 to 699 around each of the ESL access points 1 to 6 appears, but here, for the reason of easy viewing, it is omitted.

[0069] In this case, the communication between the ESL access points 1 to 6 and the respectively assigned ESLs 100 to 699 is carried out within the framework of the specific time-division multiplexing communication method already mentioned in the general description, and its structure and temporal system are visualized in FIG. 3. Here, for example, for the reason of easy viewing, only the first ESL access point 1 and its two ESLs 100 and 101 are taken up.

[0070] In FIG. 3, the uppermost state sequence illustrates the state Z of the first ESL access point 1. During a period of one time slot cycle time length DC (for example, 15 seconds), N (for example, 256) time slots Z1,..., ZN of the same time slot time length DS (for example, about 58 milliseconds) are available. During this period of the time slot cycle time length DC, the first ESL access point 1 switches between the transmission state T and the rest state R. The transmission state T always enters that state at the beginning of the time slots Z1,... ZN and is maintained for a period of the synchronization data signal time length DSD (or the transmission time length DSD of the synchronization data signal SD) in order to transmit appropriate time slot symbols ZS1,... ZSN by each synchronization data signal SD. Here, in order to uniquely identify each time slot, as each time slot cycle symbol ZS1,... ZSN, for example, the serial numbers of each time slot Z1,... ZN in the order of generation of the time slots Z1,... ZN are used. Therefore, in hexadecimal notation (displayed by "Hex"), the first time slot Z1 is represented by the time slot symbol of Hex00, the second time slot Z2 is represented by the time slot symbol of Hex01... the last time slot ZN (in this example, the 256th time slot Z256) is represented by the time slot symbol of HexFF.

[0071] In this embodiment, the identification of the time slots that appear in the frame structure of the time-division multiplexing communication system determined for each of the ESLs 100 to 199 is performed using the least significant byte B0 of the unique hardware address of the ESLs 100 to 199 in each of the ESLs 100 to 199. The remaining three bytes B1 to B3 of the hardware address excluding this least significant byte B0 are used to individually address the ESLs 100 to 199 in the time slots Z1... ZN determined for each of the ESLs 100 to 199, for example, to transmit data or to send commands separately executed to the ESLs 100 to 199.

[0072] In FIG. 3, it is shown that the first ESL100 is in a synchronized state. This ESL wakes up from the sleep state S at the first wake-up time TA1, switches to the active state E where it completes the reception preparation just before the expected appearance of the synchronization data signal SD by a relatively short lead time DV, receives the synchronization data signal SD during the reception time period DE of the first time slot symbol ZS1 (Hex00), and compares it with the time slot symbol ZS1 at which the least significant byte B0 of its hardware address (Hex00) is received, thereby showing the first time slot Z1 determined for the first ESL100 (confirming that the byte B0 to be compared of the hardware address matches the first time slot symbol ZS1), and holds the parameters of the time control layer 33 used for wake-up control for the purpose of defining a new wake-up time for the next time slot cycle, and after the lapse of the specified sleep state retention time DR, switches back to the sleep state S with a relatively short inertia operation time DN in order to wake up at a new (second) wake-up time TA2 just before the restart of the first time slot cycle Z1 as planned. The same also holds true for the second ESL101 which is in the synchronized state in the same manner as the first ESL100.

[0073] Using this system, the ESLs 100 to 699 can be kept in the synchronized state in the most energy-efficient manner possible and communicate with the ESL access points 1 to 6 within each time slot.

[0074] Furthermore, the ESLs 100 to 699 are programmed to be in the active state even outside the predetermined time slots, specifically, in the last time slot ZN, which is shown for the two ESLs 100 and 101 in FIG. 3. However, only the reception state occurs there.

[0075] In this case, simultaneously with the generation of the last synchronization data signal SD of the last time slot ZN of the time slot cycle, all the ESLs 100 to 199 assigned to the first ESL access point 1 wake up, where they receive the last time slot symbol ZSN, identify the last time slot ZN based on the serial number to re-verify synchronization, and during the detection time length E2D in the last time slot ZN, investigate the radio activities in the ESL radio channels 0 to 10 (80 to 90), and save the detected radio channel activities in the form of radio channel activity data for later transmission to the first ESL access point 1. As the detection time length E2D, a part of the time slot time length DS or, if not, the whole of the time slot time length DS (optionally, subtracting only the lead time DV) can be used.

[0076] The ESL access points 1 to 6 are preferably programmed such that no further transmission occurs following the transmission of the synchronization data signal SD in the last time slot ZN, i.e., the radio silence state is dominant in the last time slot ZN. Thereby, it is ensured that self-excited signal transmission does not disguise the detected radio activities which should surely represent only the other-excited radio activities.

[0077] To ensure as complete a detection as possible of the radio activities in the ESL radio channels 80 to 90, the detection process for the different ESL radio channels 80 to 90 can be extended over a plurality of time slot cycles, where, for each time slot cycle, for example, some or only a few of the ESL radio channels 80 to 90 are investigated for radio activities. In particular, for all the available ESL radio channels 80 to 90, this detection process is repeated over and over again (for example, every M time slot cycles, where M is a natural number, for example, every 5, 10 or 50 time slot cycles) to continuously build the overall picture of the radio activities at that time. Hereinafter, the temporal process of detecting the radio activities for all the ESL radio channels 80 to 90 is referred to as the detection period.

[0078] ESL access points 1 to 6 and ESLs 100 to 699, due to time-related reasons, in other words, especially since they know the timing of this detection cycle, the wireless activities individually detected at each ESL wireless channel 80 to 90 at the locations of ESLs 100 to 699 can be actively called by ESL access points 1 to 6, for example, by a command, after the elapse of the detection cycle, from the ESLs 100 to 199 - 600 to 699 respectively assigned to them. And this causes data transmission from each of the ESLs 100 to 699 to the corresponding ESL access points 1 to 6, and this data transmission can be carried out in the time slots Z1 to ZN assigned to the respective ESLs 100 to 699 according to the data volume, or data transmission spanning the time slots Z1 to ZN can be implemented. In this case, the entire amount of data to be transmitted can be divided into different time slots Z1 to ZN, and in some cases, it can be transmitted dispersedly over a plurality of time slot cycles.

[0079] In the case of FIG. 3, the wireless channel activity data FAD can be transmitted, for example, in the first time slot Z1 for the first ESL 100 and in the second time slot Z2 for the second ESL 101, but this is not shown in detail. For this purpose, each of the ESLs 100 or 101 is individually addressed using the synchronization data signal SD and is required to transmit data by the polling command received from the second ESL access point 1. The same also holds true for all other ESL access points 1 to 6 and all other ESLs 102 to 699.

[0080] The wireless channel activity data FAD transmitted wirelessly to the ESL access points 1 to 6 is then transmitted from the ESL access points 1 to 6 to the server 8, where it is stored in association with each position of the ESLs 100 to 699, resulting in a three-dimensional digital map of the wireless activity for each ESL wireless channel. In this case, it should be noted that the server 8 stores information regarding the in-store positions of the products corresponding to the individual ESLs 100 to 699, and from this information, the approximate positions of the ESLs 100 to 699 can be defined.

[0081] Based on this diagram of the wireless activity, the optimization of the wireless channel allocation for each of the ESL access points 1 to 6 is performed on the server, taking into account that each group 10 to 60 of the ESLs 100 to 699 can communicate wirelessly with each of the ESL access points 1 to 6 as well as possible, i.e., the wireless signals of the ESLs 100 to 699 can be received at the ESL access points 1 to 6 with as large a signal strength as possible, and in particular, without overlapping with other wireless signals. That is, for each of the ESL access points 1 to 6, the ESL wireless channels 0 to 10 (80 to 90) to be used in the future are defined in a form limited to the ESL wireless channels 3, 5, 8, 9, or 10 that should be used particularly advantageously, and then transmitted in the form of wireless channel definition data to each of the ESL access points 1 to 6 in a wired connection form.

[0082] At the ESL access points 1 to 6, the wireless channel definition data is received, and when a channel switch is necessary, the ESLs are switched to the newly defined ESL wireless channels 80 to 90. The ESLs 100 to 699 of the ESL access points 1 to 6 follow this new wireless channel allocation, i.e., the connection to the ESL access points 1 to 6 is lost, and they are searched for again across the ESL wireless channels 80 to 90 by their own search sequence and reconnected or resynchronized, so that the change of the ESL wireless channels 80 to 90 is automatically performed.

[0083] Thereby, a local distribution of the utilization of the ESL radio channels 80 to 90 within the system 9, optimized in association with the locations of ESL 100 to 699, is obtained. This can be repeated at certain time intervals, particularly at substantially periodic time intervals, whereby, as the operating time of the system elapses, a radio channel allocation that matches each radio technical basic condition (radio technical shadows such as interference signals from other radio devices, changes in the positioning of ESL 100 to 699, etc.) is obtained, and this allocation guarantees reliable radio traffic between ESL 100 to 699 and their respective ESL access points 1 to 6.

[0084] In FIG. 4, each radio channel allocation existing before the optimization process is summarized in tabular form, and in FIG. 5, the optimized radio channel allocation is presented. In these tables, the ESL access points 1 to 6 are listed in the first column 91, where they are abbreviated as ESL-ACP combined with their respective codes 1 to 6, and the ESL radio channels 80 to 90 occupied by each ESL access point 1 to 6 are entered in the second column 92, where they are abbreviated as ESL-CH combined with their respective codes 80 to 90.

[0085] As is clearly understood, in the initial wireless channel occupancy pattern, the use of the immediately adjacent ESL wireless channels 88, 89, and 90 by the second, third, and fourth ESL access points 3, 4, and 5 is rather disadvantageous. It is also highly disadvantageous that the third ESL wireless channel 83 used by the sixth ESL access point 6 is close to the first WiFi wireless channel 71 used by the WLAN access 7. This disadvantageous situation is eliminated by optimizing the wireless channel assignment such that the ESL access points 2, 4, and 6 located immediately adjacent to the WLAN access point 7 in terms of location use the eighth or tenth ESL wireless channel 88 or 90 here. Therefore, on the one hand, they do not operate on immediately adjacent ESL wireless channels, and on the other hand, a frequency interval as large as possible with respect to the upper sideband 71B of the first WLAN wireless channel 71 is created. Here, the ESL access points 1, 3, and 5 located far from the WLAN access point 7 in terms of location use the ESL wireless channels 83, 85, and 83 because at that location or at the assigned positions of ESLs 100 - 199, 300 - 399, and 500 - 599, the upper sideband 71B no longer has an adverse effect. Furthermore, in particular, it is ensured that immediately adjacent ESL wireless channels are not used compared to the other ESL access points 2, 4, and 6. However, in this example, instead of the ESL access point 5 using the ESL wireless channel 83 already used by the ESL access point 1, it is also possible to use one of the less advantageous ESL wireless channels, such as the ESL wireless channel 87 located in the upper region of the frequency band.

[0086] In this system 9, it can also be contemplated that the wireless channel allocation proceeds in two stages. Thus, for example, in the first stage, using the ESL access points 1 to 6, the wireless activities for the ESL wireless channels 80 to 90 can be detected and transmitted to the server 8. Then, a new allocation of the ESL wireless channels 80 to 90 to be used in the future for the ESL access points 1 to 6 is defined and transmitted to these access points. As a result, the ESL access points 1 to 6 may, in some cases, change the occupancy form of the ESL wireless channels 80 to 90 they use. After that, in the second stage, the wireless activities in the ESL wireless channels 80 to 90 are detected at the locations of the individual ESLs 100 to 699 and transmitted to the server 8 via the ESL access points 1 to 6, and the allocation of the wireless channels to the ESL access points 1 to 6 is further changed to fine-tune the wireless channel allocation.

[0087] Furthermore, in this system, it is also possible to consider the combination of the wireless activities detected at both the locations of each of the ESL access points 1 to 6 and the locations of each of the ESLs 100 to 699. For this purpose, the wireless activities are detected by the ESL access points 1 to 6 at their respective locations and also by the ESLs 100 to 699 at their respective locations and transmitted to the server 8. The server then, considering all these wireless activities, identifies the location optimization of the channel occupancy form allocation for the ESL access points 1 to 6.

[0088] In this system 9, rather than using separate WLAN access points 7, it has been proven particularly advantageous to use at least one combined communication station (not shown) that combines an ESL access point and a WLAN access point in a single device, where there is a software interface between two software drivers that implement the functions of each access point form. And through this software interface, the WLAN radio channel used by the WLAN access point can be directly queried or detected, and subsequently, if necessary, after performing optimization of radio channel allocation, not only can the ESL radio channel be changed in the combined communication station, but also the WLAN radio channel used by the integrated WLAN access point can be changed.

[0089] In summary, these measures can change the radio channel allocation for the ESL access point during operation, that is, even after the initial occupation of the radio channel, to generally ensure, improve, or optimize the wireless connection with the generally weak-power ESLs 100 - 699. In some cases, it can also change the radio channel allocation for the WLAN access point combined with it as a single device, and can be pseudo-continuously changed further, creating a system 9.

[0090] Finally, it is pointed out again that the drawings described in detail above are merely examples that can be modified by those skilled in the art in various ways without departing from the scope of the present invention. It is also pointed out that the use of the indefinite article "one" does not exclude the possibility that there may be multiple related features, nor does it exclude the possibility that there may be only one. Although this application relates to the invention described in the claims, other aspects may include the following configurations. 1. A method for wireless channel allocation in a system (9) of electronic display units (100 - 699), wherein the system (9) comprises a data processing device (8), communication stations (1 - 6), and electronic display units (100 - 699), and each communication station (1 - 6) is configured to utilize wireless channels (80 - 90) defined by the data processing device (8) for wireless communication with the electronic display units (100 - 699) assigned to that communication station, the method comprising the step of defining the wireless channels to be utilized based on wireless channel activity data transmitted by the communication stations (1 - 6) to the data processing device (8) and describing the wireless activities detected in each wireless channel (80 - 90). In the method, the transmission of the wireless channel activity data by the communication stations (1 - 6) is performed at a time after each communication station (1 - 6) has established an initial connection with at least one of the electronic display units (100 - 699) by utilizing a wireless channel, and the wireless channel activity data is data describing the wireless activities detected after the above - mentioned initial connection establishment. 2. In the method according to 1 above, the detection of the wireless activities in the wireless channels (80 - 90) is performed using the communication stations (1 - 6) at the locations of the respective communication stations (1 - 6). 3. In the method according to 2 above, the communication stations (1 - 6) select one wireless channel and receive a wireless signal in that wireless channel to detect wireless activities. 4. In the method according to 2 or 3 above, the communication stations (1 - 6) comprise a first wireless communication module for wireless communication with the electronic display units (100 - 699) based on a first communication protocol and a second wireless communication module for wireless communication with a device other than the electronic display units (100 - 699) based on a second communication protocol different from the first communication protocol, and the detection of the wireless activities in the first wireless communication module is performed by querying the utilization of the wireless channels from the second wireless communication module via a hardware interface and / or a software interface. 5. In the method according to 4 above, the data processing device (8) defines both a first radio channel (80 - 90) to be used by a first radio communication module and a second radio channel (71 - 73) to be used by a second radio communication module, the second radio channel (71 - 73) substantially not overlapping with the first radio channel (80 - 90). 6. In the method according to 1 above, detection of radio activity in the radio channel (80 - 90) is performed using each electronic display unit (100 - 699) at the location of each electronic display unit (100 - 699), radio activity occurring at the location of each electronic display unit (100 - 699) is transmitted to the data processing device (8) via a communication station (1 - 6) to which the electronic display unit (100 - 699) is assigned, together with a display unit identifier that identifies each electronic display unit (100 - 699). 7. In the method according to 6 above, radio communication between one of the communication stations (1 - 6) and the electronic display unit (100 - 699) assigned to the communication station is performed based on a time - division multiplexing communication method, and in the time - division multiplexing communication method, for communication between the communication station (1 - 6) and the electronic display unit (100 - 699) assigned thereto, a fixed number, particularly a fixed number, of time slots (Z1 - ZN) are provided in a form that is repeatedly ordered for each time slot cycle, each time slot (Z1 - ZN) is characterized by a unique time slot symbol (ZS1 - ZSN), each electronic display unit (100 - 699) autonomously confirms synchronization with the communication station (1 - 6) and, in some cases, is assigned to exactly one time slot (Z1 - ZN) by using the time slot symbol (ZS1 - ZSN) to communicate with the communication station (1 - 6), detection of radio activity in the radio channel (80 - 90) is performed using the electronic display unit (100 - 699) during one time slot (Z1 - ZN). 8. In the method according to 7 above, The detection of wireless activity in the wireless channels (80 - 90) is the method carried out using the electronic display units (100 - 699) during one time slot (Z1 - ZN) that is not utilized for the communication between the communication stations (1 - 6) and the electronic display units (100 - 699) to which the electronic display units (100 - 699) assigned to perform the detection of the wireless activity also belong. 9. In the method according to item 7 above, The detection of wireless activity in the wireless channels (80 - 90) is the method carried out using the electronic display units (100 - 699) during the predefined time slots (Z1 - ZN) of the time slot cycle, particularly during the last time slot (ZN). 10. In the method according to any one of items 7 - 9 above, The method in which the wireless activity detected by the electronic display units (100 - 699) for one or more different, preferably predefined channels (80 - 90) is stored using the wireless channel activity data. 11. In the method according to item 10 above, The wireless channel activity data stored in the electronic display units (100 - 699) is transmitted to the communication stations (100 - 699) during the time slots (Z1 - ZN) assigned to each of the electronic display units (100 - 699). 12. In the method according to any one of items 1 - 11 above, The detection of the wireless activity includes receiving a wireless signal and determining a received signal strength indication (abbreviated as RSSI). 13. In the method according to any one of items 1 - 12 above, The definition by the data processing device (8) of the wireless channels (80 - 90) to be used for the wireless communication between each communication station (1 - 6) and the electronic display units (100 - 699) assigned to the communication station is carried out in such a way that the wireless channel activity of each communication station (1 - 6) or the electronic display units (100 - 699) assigned thereto in the defined wireless channels (80 - 90) can be substantially ignored for other wireless channel activities. 14. In the method according to any one of items 1 - 13 above, The definition of the wireless channels to be used includes transmitting the wireless channel definition data that can be used by the communication stations (1 - 6) to the communication stations (1 - 6) to set the wireless channels to be used. 15. In the method according to any one of items 1 - 14 above, The detection of the wireless activity and the transmission of the corresponding wireless channel activity data are repeated in a time sequence in the method. 16. An electronic display unit (100 - 699), and Communication stations (1 - 6), each communication station (1 - 6) being configured to utilize a wireless channel (80 - 90) defined for wireless communication with the electronic display unit (100 - 699) assigned to the communication station (1 - 6), A data processing device (8), configured to define the wireless channels (80 - 90) to be utilized by each communication station (1 - 6) based on the wireless channel activity data describing the wireless activity in each wireless channel transmitted to the data processing device (8) by the communication stations (1 - 6), In an electronic display system (9) comprising: In the electronic display system, after each communication station (1 - 6) establishes an initial connection with at least one of the electronic display units (100 - 699) by utilizing a wireless channel (80 - 90), the communication station (1 - 6) is configured to transmit wireless channel activity data, and the wireless channel activity data is data describing the wireless activity detected after the initial connection establishment. 17. In an electronic display system (9) comprising an electronic display unit (100 - 699), in a form where communication stations (1 - 6) are used to transmit wireless channel activity data describing the wireless activity in each wireless channel (80 - 90) to a data processing device (8), In the form of use, the data processing device is configured to define the wireless channels (80 - 90) to be utilized by each communication station (1 - 6) for communication with the electronic display unit (100 - 699) assigned to the communication station based on the transmitted wireless channel activity data. In the form, after each communication station (1 - 6) establishes an initial connection with at least one of the electronic display units (100 - 699) by utilizing a wireless channel (80 - 90), the communication station (1 - 6) is configured to transmit wireless channel activity data, and the wireless channel activity data is data describing the wireless activity detected after the initial connection establishment.

Claims

1. A method for wireless channel allocation in a system (9) of electronic display units (100 to 699), wherein the system (9) comprises a data processing device (8), communication stations (1 to 6) and electronic display units (100 to 699), and each communication station (1 to 6) is configured to utilize a first wireless channel (80 to 90) and a second wireless channel (71 to 73) defined by the data processing device (8) for wireless communication with the electronic display units (100 to 699) assigned to the communication station, the data processing device (8) defines both the first wireless channel (80 to 90) to be utilized by a first wireless communication module and a second wireless channel (71 to 73) that does not overlap with the first wireless channel (80 to 90) to be utilized by a second wireless communication module, and the data processing device (8) performs a step of defining a wireless channel (80 to 90, 71 to 73) to be utilized based on wireless channel activity data that describes wireless activity detected in each of the first wireless channels (80 to 90) and each of the second wireless channels (71 to 73) transmitted by the communication stations (1 to 6) to the data processing device (8), in the method, the transmission of wireless channel activity data by the communication stations (1 to 6) is performed at a time point after each communication station (1 to 6) has established an initial connection with at least one of the electronic display units (100 to 699) by utilizing the wireless channels (80 to 90, 71 to 73), and the wireless channel activity data is data that describes wireless activity detected after the above-mentioned initial connection establishment, the communication stations (1 to 6) comprise a first wireless communication module for wireless communication with the electronic display units (100 to 699) based on a first communication protocol and a second wireless communication module for wireless communication with a device different from the electronic display units (100 to 699) based on a second communication protocol different from the first communication protocol, and the detection of wireless activity in the first wireless communication module is performed by querying the utilization of the wireless channel from the second wireless communication module via a hardware interface and / or a software interface. A method characterized by that.

2. In the method according to claim 1, The detection of wireless activity in the wireless channels (80 - 90) is characterized in that it is carried out using the communication stations (1 - 6) at the locations of the respective communication stations (1 - 6).

3. In the method according to claim 2, the communication stations (1 - 6) select one wireless channel and receive wireless signals in that wireless channel in order to detect wireless activity, which is a characteristic of the method.

4. In the method according to claim 1, the detection of wireless activity in the wireless channels (80 - 90) is carried out using the electronic display units (100 - 699) at the locations of the respective electronic display units (100 - 699), the wireless activity occurring at the locations of the respective electronic display units (100 - 699) is transmitted to the data processing device (8) via the communication stations (1 - 6) to which the respective electronic display units (100 - 699) are assigned, together with the display unit identifiers that identify the respective electronic display units (100 - 699), which is a characteristic of the method.

5. In the method according to claim 4, the wireless communication between one of the communication stations (1 - 6) and the electronic display unit (100 - 699) assigned to that communication station is carried out based on a time - division multiplexing communication method. In this time - division multiplexing communication method, for the communication between the communication stations (1 - 6) and the electronic display units (100 - 699) assigned thereto, a fixed number or a constant number of time slots (Z1 - ZN) are provided in a form that is repeatedly sequenced for each time - slot cycle, each time slot (Z1 - ZN) is characterized by a unique time - slot symbol (ZS1 - ZSN), each electronic display unit (100 - 699) autonomously confirms synchronization with the communication stations (1 - 6) and, in some cases, is assigned to exactly one time slot (Z1 - ZN) by utilizing the time - slot symbols (ZS1 - ZSN) in order to communicate with the communication stations (1 - 6), the detection of wireless activity in the wireless channels (80 - 90) is carried out using the electronic display units (100 - 699) during one time slot (Z1 - ZN), which is a characteristic of the method.

6. In the method according to claim 5, The detection of wireless activity in the wireless channels (80 - 90) is carried out using the electronic display units (100 - 699) during one time slot (Z1 - ZN) that is not used for communication between the communication stations (1 - 6) and the electronic display units (100 - 699) to which the electronic display units (100 - 699) assigned to perform the detection of the wireless activity also belong.

7. In the method according to claim 5, the detection of wireless activity in the wireless channels (80 - 90) is carried out using the electronic display units (100 - 699) during predefined time slots (Z1 - ZN) of a time slot cycle or during the last time slot (ZN).

8. In the method according to any one of claims 5 to 7, the wireless activity regarding one or more different, preferably predefined channels (80 - 90), detected by the electronic display units (100 - 699), is stored using wireless channel activity data.

9. In the method according to claim 8, the wireless channel activity data stored in the electronic display units (100 - 699) is transmitted to the communication stations (100 - 699) during the time slots (Z1 - ZN) assigned to each of the electronic display units (100 - 699).

10. In the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, the detection of the wireless activity includes receiving a wireless signal and determining a received signal strength indication (abbreviated as RSSI).

11. In the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, the definition by the data processing device (8) of the wireless channels (80 - 90) to be used for wireless communication between each communication station (1 - 6) and the electronic display units (100 - 699) assigned to the communication station is performed in such a way that wireless channel activities of each communication station (1 - 6) or the electronic display units (100 - 699) assigned thereto in the defined wireless channels (80 - 90) other than the wireless channel activities can be ignored.

12. In the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, The definition of the radio channel to be utilized includes transmitting radio channel definition data that can be used by communication stations (1 to 6) to the communication stations (1 to 6) in order to set the radio channel to be utilized.

13. In the method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, the detection of the radio activity and the transmission of the corresponding radio channel activity data are repeated in a time sequence.

14. An electronic display unit (100 to 699), Communication stations (1 to 6), each communication station (1 to 6) being configured to utilize a first radio channel (80 to 90) and a second radio channel (71 to 73) defined for wireless communication with an electronic display unit (100 to 699) assigned to the communication station (1 to 6), A data processing device (8), defining both the first radio channel (80 to 90) to be utilized by the first radio communication module and the second radio channel (71 to 73) that does not overlap with the first radio channel (80 to 90) to be utilized by the second radio communication module, and based on radio channel activity data describing the radio activity in each first radio channel (80 to 90) and each second radio channel (71 to 73) transmitted to the data processing device (8) by the communication stations (1 to 6), configured to define the radio channels (80 to 90, 71 to 73) to be utilized by each communication station (1 to 6). In an electronic display system (9) comprising: After each communication station (1 to 6) has established an initial connection with at least one of the electronic display units (100 to 699) by utilizing the radio channels (80 to 90, 71 to 73), the communication stations (1 to 6) are configured to transmit radio channel activity data, and the radio channel activity data is data describing the radio activity detected after the initial connection establishment. The communication stations (1 to 6) include a first wireless communication module for wirelessly communicating with the electronic display units (100 to 699) based on a first communication protocol, and a second wireless communication module for wirelessly communicating with a device different from the electronic display units (100 to 699) based on a second communication protocol different from the first communication protocol. Detection of wireless activity in the first wireless communication module is performed by querying wireless channel utilization from the second wireless communication module via a hardware interface and / or a software interface. An electronic display system characterized by this.

15. In an electronic display system (9) including electronic display units (100 to 699), a method of using a communication station (1 to 6) to transmit wireless channel activity data describing wireless activity on each first wireless channel (80 to 90) and each second wireless channel (71 to 73) to a data processing device (8), The data processing device defines both the first wireless channels (80 to 90) to be utilized by the first wireless communication module and the second wireless channels (71 to 73) that do not overlap with the first wireless channels (80 to 90) to be utilized by the second wireless communication module, and based on the transmitted wireless channel activity data, each communication station (1 to 6) is configured to define the wireless channels (80 to 90, 71 to 73) to be utilized for communication with the electronic display unit (100 to 699) assigned to the communication station. In the method of using, After each communication station (1 to 6) has established an initial connection with at least one of the electronic display units (100 to 699) by utilizing the wireless channels (80 to 90, 71 to 73), the communication stations (1 to 6) are configured to transmit wireless channel activity data, and the wireless channel activity data is data describing the wireless activity detected after the initial connection is established. The communication stations (1 to 6) include the first wireless communication module for wirelessly communicating with the electronic display units (100 to 699) based on a first communication protocol, and the second wireless communication module for wirelessly communicating with a device different from the electronic display units (100 to 699) based on a second communication protocol different from the first communication protocol. Detection of wireless activity in the first wireless communication module is performed by querying wireless channel utilization from the second wireless communication module via a hardware interface and / or a software interface. A method of use characterized by this is provided.

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