How to direct people to your products

Abstract

A method for guiding a person to a product, the method comprising the following steps: radiating a radio beacon from a radio beacon transmitter assigned to a product and installed in approximate spatial proximity to the product or at a determined location of the product; receiving the emitted radio beacon by a radio beacon receiver that is locally movable together with the person; and activating an operation when the radio beacon receiver moves within a predetermined operation activation area around the radio beacon transmitter.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for directing people to items, with particular application in an order picking system for directing order pickers. [Background technology]

[0002] Nowadays, many supermarkets offer their customers a so-called "pick & collect service." Thus, a customer can place an order for their order, and the items are collected in the supermarket by an employee (in technical terms, a so-called order picker) and delivered to the customer. To collect the items ordered for the customer, the order picker moves throughout the store with his / her personal digital assistant (PDA), which is used to display the order, and picks the relevant items directly from the shelf. All electronic labels (ESLs) installed at the locations of multiple items with which the ESLs are logically linked assist the order picker by flashing the light-emitting diodes of the ESLs. The flashing light-emitting diodes guide the order picker to the item to be picked.

[0003] However, this means that a large number of ESLs may have to flash simultaneously and for an extended period of time until the appropriate items are collected, the order picker acknowledges the collection, and the appropriate ESLs stop flashing.

[0004] However, this flashing consumes a lot of power, which is not only noticeable in battery-operated ESLs, where the battery life is significantly reduced, but also in mains-operated ESLs. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved method for guiding people to products, and an improved system for implementing the improved method, so as to eliminate the above-mentioned problems. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] This problem is solved by a display system as claimed in claim 1. The subject of the invention is therefore a method for guiding a person to a product, comprising the steps of: emitting a radio beacon from a radio beacon transmitter assigned to the product and located in the approximate spatial proximity of the product or at the product's intended location, receiving the emitted radio beacon by a radio beacon receiver that is locally mobile, in particular together with a person or a device, and activating an operation when the radio beacon receiver moves into a predetermined activation area around the radio beacon transmitter.

[0007] This method according to the present invention provides the advantage that the occurrence of an action that results in power consumption in the system depends on the relative position of the wireless beacon receiver with respect to the wireless beacon transmitter. Therefore, when the wireless beacon receiver and the wireless beacon transmitter are too far apart, no action is activated, resulting in no power consumption. The predetermined action activation region defines an area where it is meaningful to activate an action to guide a person to a product and allow the system to consume power. Furthermore, the dimensions of the action activation region can be easily adapted to allow a person to use the action to find their way to a particular product.

[0008] In summary, the present invention provides two major improvements by focusing the attention of the person searching for the product, reducing power consumption in the system and improving retrieval efficiency.

[0009] Preferably, the method is applied or used respectively in a product display area, in particular in a supermarket, where a plurality of products or a group of products are displayed at predetermined locations.

[0010] In a particular embodiment of the method, a radio beacon Receiver The wireless beacon transmitter is locally mobile with the person carrying it around the periphery of the merchandise display area. Receiver This radio beacon Receiver or this radio beacon Receiver may be locally mobile with the device in which it is embedded, for example a shopping cart pushed by a person.

[0011] The wireless beacon transmitter may be assigned to the item by being logically linked / tied to the item either by the item itself (directly) or via another device that is directly linked / tied to the item and carries or has the wireless beacon transmitter (indirectly). This logical link is stored by data, for example in a database.

[0012] Further particularly advantageous and alternative embodiments of the invention are set forth in the dependent claims and the following description.

[0013] Generally, stores such as supermarkets, wholesale stores, etc., to which the method is applicable, may have fewer or more electronic display devices. The number of display devices installed may depend on the size of the supermarket and / or the number of products or product groups.

[0014] Such electronic displays may be configured as multiple so-called electronic shelf labels (ESLs) mounted on multiple shelf rails at multiple locations along the shelf rail adjacent to multiple groups or items that are logically linked to the ESLs. These ESLs typically comprise low- or near-zero-power display screens (e.g., using electronic paper or electrophoretic technology) to display items and / or pricing information for the groups or items. Content displayed by the displays is provided by content data transmitted to the ESLs by wireless signals or by wire, typically conveying text and / or images that are also displayed by the displays.

[0015] Such electronic display devices may be constituted by so-called video rails with one or more video screens mounted on (or along) the shelf rails or constituting the shelf rails themselves.

[0016] In contrast to ESLs, video rails consist of video display screens and are therefore capable of displaying images and / or virtual electronic shelf labels that may be freely positioned along the video rail's display and may be overlaid or embedded in the image, and content data is also provided to the video rail to convey the images and / or virtual electronic shelf labels that are displayed by the display.

[0017] Such electronic display devices may be configured as smart posters that enable context-specific displays on the display screen of the electronic display device.

[0018] The content data is generated and provided by a data provision system. The data provision system may consist of a cloud-based (software and hardware) service or a local server on the supermarket premises. In either case, software runs on the respective computer architecture that processes human-readable text or images to be clearly displayed by the respective electronic display device. This processing creates content that is encoded in an appropriate data format and provided to the electronic display device.

[0019] Typically, the data providing system is connected to a communications network configured to distribute content data to each electronic display device by wireless signals or wires. Such a communications network may include wireless access points configured to wirelessly communicate with a group of multiple electronic display devices. Such a communications network may include multiple routers or controllers to which the multiple electronic display devices are connected, preferably in groups.

[0020] Typically, a data provisioning system includes store management software that manages a database that stores a plan of the entire store, its shelves, the items on those shelves, and the electronic shelf labels linked to those items. Such a data structure is commonly known as a planogram. The data provisioning system therefore allows each electronic display device to display individual content, either automatically generated or determined by an authorized user of the display system.

[0021] The data provision system may further include one or more computer-assisted input devices (portable or fixed) that allow authorized users of the display system to select or determine the human-readable text or images to be displayed by one of the plurality of electronic display devices or by a group of multiple electronic display devices. Such input devices may be, for example, computer terminals, personal digital assistants, mobile phones, tablet computers, etc. These input devices execute user interface software on their computer hardware. The user interface software is programmed to allow the user to perform appropriate user interactions to select or determine the human-readable text or images and to interface with the store management software. Furthermore, these input devices have the hardware and software required to provide representations of the human-readable text or images to the data provision system in digital form, for example, in an intermediate data format or as content data.

[0022] Thus, such mobile devices may also be used by authorized users, referred to herein as "order pickers," to collect items according to orders received from customers. Various aspects of the order picking process are described in detail below. However, it should be noted that the method for guiding a person into a product display area where products are displayed may also be applied in the position of a customer walking through a supermarket and collecting items according to the customer's shopping list. In this regard, the customer's mobile device may be a smartphone, tablet computer, or the like carried by the customer.

[0023] As explained, in a preferred use case of the present invention, the person guided by the method according to the present invention is an order picker. In this specification, the wireless beacon receiver is an electronic mobile device of the order picker having a display screen, which displays product information of products or a list of products to be picked by the order picker. This product information or this product list or product information list can be directly entered or uploaded to the mobile device for this purpose. Each mobile device of a group of order pickers can receive respective data from the data provision system providing a shopping application that supports the order picking and collection process, so that each order picker can process individual orders of multiple customers. The respective data can be pushed to the mobile device, or the mobile device can be automatically synchronized with the shopping application.

[0024] Such an electronic mobile device includes a radio beacon receiving stage for receiving a radio beacon, the following components: -Personal digital assistants (PDAs), -Smartphone, -tablet computers, -Smartwatch, -Smart trolley, It may be composed of one of the components.

[0025] These components can be adapted on the software and / or hardware side for the task of order picking. This means that the computer of such a device runs an order picking application. The application provides the mobile device with the functionality required by an order picker. These mobile devices also have electronic circuitry for a wireless receiver to receive wireless beacons, extract and use the wireless beacon data content, and / or further process the wireless beacon data content transmitted by the wireless beacons.

[0026] The wireless beacon transmitter includes a wireless beacon transmission stage for emitting a wireless beacon, and includes the following components: Electronic shelf labels (typically, these are attached to shelves, in particular to shelf rails that define the shelf floor on which products can be placed. Such shelf labels may also be configured as tablet displays or clothing tags), - rails on which shelf tags or other devices can be attached (this means that the shelf rail itself or the (front) rail of the product display tablet can have the electronics of the radio beacon transmission stage), an electronic rail controller configured to control a plurality of electronic shelf labels or other electronic devices attached to the rail of the electronic rail controller (in this embodiment, the electronics of the wireless beacon transmission stage are built into the rail controller located at the center of the rail. Therefore, the ESL controlled by the rail controller does not need any additional electronics to configure the wireless beacon transmission stage); an electronic label attached to the product (in this embodiment, the electronic label may be configured as a radio frequency identification tag (RFID tag) or a near field communication device (NFC device) that can be used primarily to identify multiple products, in which case the functionality of the electronic label is enhanced by the radio beacon transmission stage that adapts it to the method according to the invention), It is realized by at least one component of

[0027] The purpose of the action is to make the order picker aware of his / her proximity to at least one of the items on the shopping list. Therefore, the action, which is performed when the items or their display locations are spatially close, is advantageously characterized by at least one of the following measures (see below) and / or the item is movable together with the order picker:

[0028] Thus, according to a first aspect of this functionality, the operation is performed by an electronic device installed in (very) close proximity to the item (e.g., by an ESL or rail controller, or a rail tag or RFID tag or NFC tag attached to the item). According to a second aspect of this functionality, the operation is performed by an electronic device (PDA, tablet computer, smartphone, etc.) that is locally mobile together with the order picker. According to a third aspect of this functionality, the operation may be performed, in particular simultaneously, by an electronic device installed in (very) close proximity to the item (see "first aspect of this functionality") and an electronic device that is locally mobile together with the order picker (see "second aspect of this functionality"). The above "means for:" are here listed as follows: - human-readable content displayed on a display screen , especially picking information For example, an order number, item number, product name, or a note such as "It's here" or "It's near you" may be displayed to the person. - Producing visual effects on a display screen, for example the display screen can rapidly flash or change its content in a way that dynamically changes the appearance of the content and draws attention to the content itself. - the generation of a visual effect by a light source, for example an LED that flashes, lights up or changes its colour can be provided, either on a locally mobile electronic device or on an electronic device placed in (close) proximity to the product. - Vibration performed by a vibration stage. This allows the order picker to be notified of their arrival at the action activation area without taking their eyes off their current task. Separating the action from checking the visual content for the purpose of collecting items increases the order picker's work efficiency, since while their PDA is vibrating, for example, the order picker can continue to visually check the list of items undisturbed. This also means that other people, which may be customers or other order pickers, are not disturbed by the action. - generation of an acoustic signal by an acoustic signal generation stage. The acoustic signal also provides the advantage that this action is separated from checking the visual content for the purpose of collecting the items, thus also increasing the work efficiency of the order picker, since, for example, the order picker can continue to visually check the list of items undisturbed while their PDA is emitting the sound. Naturally, the sound can also be heard by others who are near the electronic device emitting the sound. Each order picker can be assigned a different tone of sound so that different order pickers do not disturb each other.

[0029] The operational activation region is defined by a radio beacon signal strength set by the radio beacon transmitter and / or by a predetermined threshold value of a received signal parameter, the signal parameter indicating a radio beacon received by the radio beacon receiver, and the predetermined threshold value is set by the radio beacon receiver.

[0030] When the radio beacon signal strength is set by the radio beacon transmitter, the operational activation region is essentially defined by the radio beacon transmitter. The operational activation region is the region within which the radio beacon can be reliably received by the radio beacon receiver. Essentially, the radio signal strength is set by the radio signal power used to emit the radio beacon. The radio signal power determines the maximum distance measured from the radio beacon transmitter at which the radio beacon can be received and processed. In some embodiments, a variable or adaptable radio signal strength may be used by the radio beacon transmitter to model or modify the operational activation region.

[0031] When a predetermined threshold value for a received signal parameter is set by a radio beacon receiver, the received signal parameter originates from the received radio beacon signal. Typically, the reception may be performed by the radio beacon receiver. In this case, for example, the reception quality or so-called received signal strength indicator (RSSI, power level in milliwatts or decibels per milliwatt (dBm)) is calculated by the receiver's electronics. Therefore, the radio beacon transmitter can define a level or value of this parameter as the predetermined threshold value for this parameter. In this embodiment, the operational activation region can be defined to be narrower than the maximum distance measured from the radio beacon transmitter within which a radio beacon can be received and processed. The radio beacon may be used to modify or change the width of the operational activation region during operation for various reasons on the radio beacon receiver side. The radio beacon allows the width of the operational activation region to be flexibly adjusted.

[0032] Also, a combination of both functions may be applied to define the motion activation region.

[0033] Furthermore, it may be beneficial for the initiation of an action to depend on a change in a signal parameter used to describe a received radio beacon.

[0034] On the other hand, this functionality allows different positions of the radio signal receiver to be taken into account when it is necessary to decide whether an action should be initiated or not: for example, different actions may be initiated when the order picker is closer to the goods rather than further away.

[0035] On the other hand, this functionality allows the movement trajectory of the wireless signal receiver to be taken into account when a decision needs to be made whether an action should be initiated. Typically, the movement trajectory of the wireless signal receiver is described by the movements of the order picker carrying the wireless signal receiver, which correspond to temporary changes in the signal pattern. For example, different actions can be initiated when the order picker approaches an item rather than when moving away from the item.

[0036] In some embodiments, for example, a wireless signal receiver may be configured to initiate operation on an ESL that assumes the function of a wireless beacon transmitter. Wireless beacons are transmitted from the wireless beacon transmitter and received by the wireless beacon receiver. This requires special engineering challenges to enable the wireless beacon transmitter and the ESL to communicate directly with each other.

[0037] However, according to an aspect of the present invention, the wireless beacon receiver transmits the data content of the received wireless beacon to a central control stage, which identifies each wireless beacon transmitter that emitted the data content through the wireless beacon based on the data content and initiates an action related to the identified wireless beacon transmitter. The control stage knows the relationship between multiple products, multiple ESLs, and multiple wireless beacon transmitters in the store, and controls the content displayed by these ESLs and also the actions of these ESLs, so that the control stage can respond to a specific ESL based on the received data content to perform an action. In this example, the initiated action may be the blinking of a screen or LED of only one of the multiple ESLs that corresponds to the data content.

[0038] The content column - for example the central one - may be configured by a data provision system.

[0039] In this case, it is advantageous for the control stage to store a data structure linking a particular item to a particular radio beacon transmitter. If the radio beacon transmitter is embedded in, for example, an ESL, the logical link between the ID data of the radio beacon transmitter and the ESL is also stored by the central control stage, and therefore the particular item linked to the ESL is also linked to the radio beacon emitted by the ESL's radio beacon transmitter.

[0040] Therefore, according to another aspect of the invention, the control stage initiates an action on a radio beacon receiver that receives the data content. This functionality allows for the initiation of an action on the order picker's mobile device, which can be used in particular to initiate an action that is personalized for the order picker.

[0041] The action to be initiated is: Unless confirmation of completion of work is received from the order picker 、 The activation may be suspended. Such suspension may result in long-lasting power consumption. Therefore, it is beneficial for the activated operation to be terminated when the wireless beacon receiver leaves the predetermined activation region. Like this Terminating an operation allows operations dependent on the movement of the order picker to be stopped regardless of whether the operation is completed or not, so that while the operation is still ongoing, the power consuming operation is terminated within a predetermined period of time, i.e., immediately after the order picker leaves the operation activation area.

[0042] However, in accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, the initiated operation is terminated when a termination signal is received. Such a termination signal may be: received from the order picker via the order picker's mobile device; or For example, by using NFC communication with the mobile device of the order picker 、 In ESL directly can be received.

[0043] As mentioned above, a variety of radio beacon transmitters and radio beacon receivers may be provided and a variety of different operations may be initiated. In practice, the method may be carried out, for example, as follows: An order picker pushes a smart trolley having a wireless beacon receiver through the aisles of a store. The order picker wears a smart watch that also has a wireless beacon receiver. In this example, both the smart trolley and the smart watch each form a wireless beacon receiver. In this case, the wireless beacon transmitter may be implemented as an ESL having an LED. When the order picker approaches an ESL assigned to one of the items the order picker is searching for and enters its action activation area, a first action may be activated. The first of these actions is Both the smart trolley and the smartwatch will display a text indicating that the product is nearby. of At the same time, the signal can be transmitted to a server or a data providing system, and the server or the data providing system Activate the ESL operation 。 These actions may include an ESL displaying text and an LED flashing. As the order picker continues to approach the item or its radio beacon transmitter, the smartwatch begins to vibrate. The strength or frequency of the vibration increases as the distance to the item decreases. This means that the order picker can sense where the item is on display without having to search for it. In this example, when the order picker places the item in a shopping cart, this may be automatically recognized by the shopping cart via pattern recognition or an NFC interface or reading a QR code. At this point, the action initiated to guide the order picker to the item is stopped. It should be noted again that this is just one example of how the measures can be combined. Other combinations are possible.

[0044] In general, the radio beacons used in the configuration of the present invention can be any radio signal that conveys the information described herein. In a preferred embodiment, the radio beacons used are Bluetooth radio beacons. In a more preferred embodiment, the radio beacons used are Bluetooth low-power radio beacons. Accordingly, the equipment used to transmit and receive radio beacons is configured according to the type of radio beacon to be generated.

[0045] Finally, it is noted that the electronic devices described in this patent application specification may be implemented using well-known discrete and / or integrated electronic circuits. When the necessary interfaces are provided, those skilled in the art can select and configure appropriate interface circuits to enable data and / or signal communication. A programmable device may also be implemented using a microprocessor and several peripheral electronic circuits. Such a programmable device may be implemented using a microcontroller or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), for example. Execution of software routines on such a device provides the computer-implemented functions described herein.

[0046] These and other aspects of the invention can be seen from the following figures.

[0047] The invention will now be described again on the basis of exemplary, but non-limiting embodiments with reference to the attached drawings, in which the same components are marked with the same reference numerals in the different figures, which are drawn diagrammatically. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0048] [Figure 1] 1 shows an electronic shelf label system used to guide order pickers with mobile devices. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an electronic shelf label system used in the system. [Figure 3]FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a mobile device used in the system. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 is a view along a shelf aisle as a mobile device is moved by a shop picker. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0049] Figure 1 shows the basic concept of an electronic shelf label display system 1 (abbreviated here as system 1) installed inside a supermarket building. This system is composed of multiple electronic shelf labels 2 (abbreviated here as ESLs). The ESLs 2 are installed on shelf rails 3 (abbreviated here as rails 3). The rails 3 are installed at the front edges of shelf boards 4 of shelves 5.

[0050] Shelf rails 4 are used to display merchandise which is not shown for simplicity of illustration.

[0051] The ESLs 2 are used to display product information and price information to customers who select the products themselves, possibly using digital purchasing. However, product information is also used by order pickers or store pickers who select products according to an order determined by the customer, even if the customer does not want to select the products themselves. This information, which can be read by humans, is displayed by the display screen 6 of the ESLs 2. Furthermore, the ESLs 2 have light-emitting diodes 7 (abbreviated as LEDs 7) for emitting a light signal that can be perceived by humans. The LEDs 7 are used to attract the attention of customers or order pickers to the respective ESLs 2 when the light signal is emitted. Thus, the LEDs 7 can be used to guide the customers or order pickers to the respective ESLs 2 in order to find the specific products to which the respective ESLs 2 are logically linked. In contrast to the ESL display screens 6, in which the displayed information is highly readable only when the display screen 6 is viewed from the front, the flashing of the LEDs 7 can also be clearly perceived by looking at the corresponding ESLs 2 from the side. This means that the flashing of the LED 7 is perfectly perceptible even when looking along the shelf aisle, and the LED 7 is therefore a useful element for guiding a customer or order picker to a desired item from a distance. The good visibility of the emitted light signal is improved by a light guide which surrounds the LEDs 7 and is configured to deflect the light emitted by the LEDs 7 laterally. This light guide protrudes from the surface of the display screen 6 so as to improve the lateral visibility of the emitted light. The light guide is not shown in detail in the figures.

[0052] In this exemplary embodiment, the ESL2 also serves as a radio beacon transmitter.

[0053] FIG. 1 further illustrates a data provision system for providing the content data D1 to the ESL2 via a communication network 9 so that the ESL2 can display the information conveyed by the content data D1. In this case, the data provision system is a server 8 that runs the required shop management software application and is located in a back office or a separate server room (not shown) in the supermarket. The server 8 is therefore configured to function as a control stage. The communication network 9 is composed of a wired local area network (abbreviated here as LAN 10). The LAN 10 connects the server 8 to an access point of a wireless local area network (abbreviated here as WLAN-AP 11). The WLAN-AP 11 is used to communicate with a mobile device 12. In this example, the mobile device 12 is also a wireless beacon receiver and has corresponding components for this wireless beacon receiver, as described below. The mobile device 12 is a kind of personal digital assistant used by supermarket employees to establish binding between products and the ESL2. In this process, the barcode scanner of the mobile device 12 (see FIG. 3 ) scans the barcode, which is the EAN code of the product, on the product or on the product's packaging, and also scans the ID code of the ESL 2 displayed on the display screen 6 of the ESL 2. The mobile device 12 then transmits the scanned codes to the server 8 via the WLAN-AP 11 via WLAN-communication C1. The server 8 then creates a data structure that stores the logical links between the ESL 2 in the store and the products displayed in the store. Prior to this creation, the ESL 2 installed in the store is first registered with the server 8 so that it is ready to be used in the store. Location information may also be provided by the mobile device 12 so that the store's shelf planogram can be completed and stored in the data structure by the server 8.

[0054] In this embodiment, the mobile device 12 has a display screen 28 for displaying human readable content, particularly product information and / or location information.

[0055] FIG. 1 also shows two electronic shelf label access points (herein abbreviated as ESL-AP13). These ESL-AP13 are used by the server 8 to communicate with the ESL2 during ESL communication C2 to provide content data D1 to the ESL2 and / or to set certain parameters or receive or request certain operating conditions from the ESL2. The ESL2 and ESL-AP13 are configured to use an ESL communication protocol that is generally different from the protocol used in the WLAN communication C1. Some examples of such ESL communication protocols are the applicant's ZigBee® or dedicated time slot communication protocol, which is disclosed in Patent Cooperation Treaty patent application WO 2015 / 124197 A1 (pages 2-22) and is exemplified herein. Here, each ESL-AP13 can connect to each ESL2 registered with that respective ESL-AP13. Here, ESL2 installed on a shelf 5 located in the right half of Figure 1 is assigned to ESL-AP13 shown directly above this shelf 5, and ESL2 installed on a shelf 5 on the left side of this figure is assigned to ESL-AP13 shown directly above this shelf 5. To ensure proper wireless communication with ESL2, the two ESL-APs 13 operate on different wireless channels, avoiding the use of the wireless channel occupied by WLAN-AP11.

[0056] The following describes the block diagram of the ESL2 electronics shown in FIG.

[0057] The ESL2 includes an ESL-radio module 14 configured to perform ESL communications C2. The ESL-radio module 14 typically consists of conventional transmitter / receiver circuitry connected to conventional antenna circuitry. The ESL2 also includes an ESL controller 15 that controls communications via the ESL radio module 14 and other modules, such as a first LED module 16, a first display module 17, a first battery module 18, and a wireless beacon transmitter stage 19. The battery module 18 serves as a power source for the ESL2 and provides a first supply voltage VCC1 relative to a reference potential GND1. To display information conveyed by the content data D1, the display module 17 includes a display screen 6 and electronics for driving the display screen 6. The display module 17 may include a separate controller (not shown) to control the operation of the display screen 6. The LED module 16 includes at least one LED 7 and electronics for driving the LED 7 under the control of the ESL controller 15. The wireless beacon transmitter stage 19 includes wireless signal transmitter electronics connected to the antenna circuitry. Both are conventional circuits and are not shown in detail in Figure 2. In order to individually identify each ESL2 that has emitted a radio beacon, the radio beacon transmitting stage 19 is configured to emit a radio beacon carrying a unique ID code as data content. The logical link between each ESL2 and its unique ID code is stored in the data structure described above. In its simplest form, the data content may be the unique ID code of the ESL2 already used to link the ESL2 to a product. These electronic modules of the ESL2 are connected by a first (data / signal) bus 21.

[0058] The following describes the electronic block diagram of the mobile device 12 shown in FIG. 3. The mobile device 12 includes a WLAN radio module 22 configured to perform WLAN communication C2. The WLAN radio module 22 is comprised of a conventional transmitter / receiver circuit connected to a conventional antenna circuit. The mobile device 12 also includes a mobile device controller 23. The mobile device controller 23 controls communication between the WLAN radio module 22 and other modules, such as a second LED module 24, a second display module 25, which may include a conventional LCD display 26, a second battery module 27, a beacon scanner module 28, and a wireless beacon receiver 29, as already described above. The LED module 24 includes at least one additional LED 30. To attract the attention of a user (employee / order picker), the additional LED 30 is used to emit a light signal under the control of the mobile device controller 23. The display module 25 is used to display instructions, particularly a shopping list or shopping list items, to the order picker under the control of the mobile device controller 23. The wireless beacon receiving stage 29 is configured to receive wireless beacons emitted by the ESL 2 and to transmit their data content to the mobile device controller 23. The data content is transmitted from the mobile device controller 23 to the server 8 via the WLAN radio module 22 during a WLAN communication C1. These electronic modules of the mobile device 12 are connected by a second (data / signal) bus 31.

[0059] The data content received by server 8 enables server 8 to determine that mobile device 12 has entered the reception area around the ESL 2 that transmitted the respective radio beacon. Because server 8 stores and manages the planogram, the locations of each ESL 2 are known to server 8. As a result, server 8 also knows that mobile device 12 is within a predetermined area around each ESL 2 that is the source of the received data content.

[0060] A method for guiding an order picker will now be described with reference to FIG. 4. Two shelves 5 are shown in FIG. 4. For simplicity, only the rails 3 defining the left and right aisles are shown. In this case, it is assumed that the aisles have a length (e.g., 30 meters) significantly longer than the transmission range (e.g., 5 meters) of the wireless beacon transmitters 19 of the ESLs 2 installed on the rails 3. It is also assumed that the order picker has downloaded an order from the server 8 to the order picker's mobile device 12, and that the screen 28 of the mobile device 12 displays a list of the ordered items A, B, and C, along with the number of items A, B, and C. Walking along the y-axis of the coordinate system shown in FIG. 4 means that the order picker carries the order picker's mobile device 12 as they move through the aisles.

[0061] With regard to the items to be collected, it is assumed that these items are displayed in positions A, B, and C on shelf 5. To avoid overloading Figure 4 with codes, only the ESL2 codes associated with items A, B, and C are shown.

[0062] A mobile device 12 enters an aisle and receives beacon signals from the wireless beacon transmitting stages 19 of the first ESLs 2 on the left and right sides of the aisle. The respective data contents are extracted from the received wireless beacons and transmitted to the server 8. The server 8 recognizes the ESL 2 associated with product A, and the recognized ESL 2 sends a message to the server 8 to start flashing its LED 7, as illustrated by the continuous lines 33. from directive Received The relevant Blink alerts the order picker, who then takes out product A from the left shelf. I authenticated the order for product A, which is Propagated to Server 8 、 This server 8 sends a command to stop the blinking of the LED 7 to the ESL 2 linked to the product A.

[0063] As the order picker continues walking along the shelf 5, the order picker's mobile device 12 enters the reception range of the wireless beacon emitted by the ESL2 associated with the item C. In relation to Following the procedure already explained, LED7 of each ESL2 starts blinking as an operation. Since product B is listed above product C in the list of products AC, The order of these items in this list will be changed immediately as a result of the action, Product C is This time Instead of product B, in the center of display screen 28 be placed Similarly, for product C order but certification Then, the blinking of LED7 of ESL2 linked to product C stops.

[0064] Finally, the order picker moves further through the aisle and reaches the receiving area of ​​ESL2's wireless beacon, which is associated with product B. Each ESL 2 is commanded by the server 8 to start blinking its LED 7 as an action. The order picker picks up product B and places an order for this product B. certification Until To be continued. After that, the LED 7 stops blinking.

[0065] In Figure 4, arrows 34 indicate the path that the order picker takes along shelf 5 while being guided by flashing LEDs 7 towards items A, B and C to be purchased. It should be noted that in this case the invention has been described based on an aisle between two shelves, but the method could of course also be used well with more complex aisle or shelf configurations.

[0066] It should be noted that the electronic devices described in this patent application specification may be configured with well-known discrete and / or embedded electronic devices. Where an interface is required, one skilled in the art can select and configure appropriate interface circuits (transmitters and receivers) to enable the transmission of data and / or signals. A programmable device may be configured with a microprocessor and several peripheral electronic devices. Such a programmable device may be configured with a microcontroller or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. Execution of software routines on such devices provides the computer-implemented functions described herein.

[0067] Finally, it should be noted again that the above-described embodiments are merely examples that can be modified in various ways by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. For the sake of completeness, it is also mentioned that the use of the indefinite article "a" does not mean that the respective feature cannot denote a plurality. The present application relates to the invention described in the claims, but may also include the following configurations as other aspects. 1. A method for directing a person to a product (A, B, C), the method comprising the steps of: - emitting a radio beacon from a radio beacon transmitter (2) assigned to one product (A, B, C) and located in the approximate spatial proximity of said product (A, B, C) or at the intended location of said product (A, B, C); - receiving said emitted radio beacons by a radio beacon receiver (12) that is locally mobile, in particular together with a person or device; - activating an operation when the wireless beacon receiver (12) moves into a predetermined activation area around the wireless beacon transmitter (2); The method includes: 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the person to be guided is an order picker, and the wireless beacon receiver is an electronic mobile device (12) including a display screen (28) and displaying product information or a list of products (A, B, C) to be picked by the order picker. 3. The electronic mobile device (12) includes a radio beacon receiving stage (29) for receiving the radio beacon, and includes the following components: -Mobile information terminals (12), -Smartphone, -tablet computers, -Smartwatch, -Smart trolley, 3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising one of the following components: 4. The radio beacon transmitter (2) comprises the following components, including a radio beacon transmission stage (19) for emitting the radio beacon: -Electronic shelf label (2), rails to which shelf tags or other devices can be attached; an electronic rail controller configured to control a plurality of electronic shelf labels or other electronic devices attached to a rail of the electronic rail controller; -Electronic labels attached to the goods; 4. The method according to any one of 1 to 3 above, which is realized by at least one component of the above. 5. The action is performed by a plurality of the following means installed in approximate spatial proximity to the item or at the intended location of the item and / or locally mobile with the person: - modifying human-readable content displayed on a display screen; - producing a visual effect on a display screen; - Visual effects caused by light sources, - carrying out vibrations by a vibration stage; - generation of an acoustic signal by an acoustic signal generation stage; 5. The method according to any one of 1 to 4 above, characterized by at least one of the following means. 6. The action activation area is - by the radio beacon signal strength set by the radio beacon transmitter (2), and / or - preset by predefined thresholds of received signal parameters, 6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the signal parameters describe a radio beacon received by the radio beacon receiver (12), and the predetermined threshold is set by the radio beacon receiver (12). 7. 7. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the initiation of said action depends on a change in a signal parameter used to describe said received radio beacon. 8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the radio beacon receiver (12) transmits the radio beacon data content of the received radio beacon, in particular to a central control stage (8), and the control stage (8) recognizes, based on the radio beacon data content, each radio beacon transmitter (2) that emitted the data content by the radio beacon, and initiates an operation relating to the recognized radio beacon transmitter (2). 9. 9. A method according to claim 8, wherein said control stage (8) stores a data structure linking a particular product (A, B, C) to a particular radio beacon transmitter (2). 10. 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the control stage (8) initiates an action with respect to a radio beacon receiver (12) from which the control stage (8) has received data content. 11. 11. The method according to any one of 1 to 10 above, wherein the activated operation is terminated when the wireless beacon receiver (12) is moved out of the predetermined operation activation area. 12. 12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the initiated operation is terminated when a termination signal is received.

Claims

1. A method for directing a person to a product (A, B, C), the method comprising the steps of: - emitting a radio beacon from a radio beacon transmitter (2) assigned to one product (A, B, C) and located in the approximate spatial proximity of said product (A, B, C) or at the intended location of said product (A, B, C); - receiving said emitted radio beacons by a radio beacon receiver (12) that is locally mobile together with the person or device; - when the radio beacon receiver (12) moves into a predetermined activation area around the radio beacon transmitter (2), the radio beacon transmitter (2) is recognized by a control stage (8), which then activates an operation on the side of the radio beacon transmitter (2); When the person authenticates the product (A, B, C) or when the product (A, B, C) is placed in the device, this is communicated to the control stage (8), which then terminates the initiated operation; The method includes:

2. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the person being guided is an order picker, and the wireless beacon receiver is an electronic mobile device (12) that includes a display screen (28) and displays product information or a list of products (A, B, C) for the products to be picked by the order picker.

3. The electronic mobile device (12) includes a radio beacon receiving stage (29) for receiving the radio beacon, and includes the following components: - a mobile information terminal (12), -smartphone, - tablet computers, -Smartwatch, -Smart trolley, 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the method comprises one of the following components:

4. The radio beacon transmitter (2) comprises the following components, including a radio beacon transmission stage (19) for emitting the radio beacon: -Electronic shelf label (2), - rails to which shelf tags or other devices can be attached; an electronic rail controller configured to control a plurality of electronic shelf labels or other electronic devices attached to a rail of the electronic rail controller; - electronic labels attached to the goods; The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the method is realized by at least one component of:

5. The operation may involve: - changing the human-readable content or picking information displayed on the display screen; - the generation of visual effects on a display screen; - the generation of visual effects by light sources, - performing vibrations by a vibration stage, - generation of an acoustic signal by an acoustic signal generation stage, The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized by at least one of the following operations:

6. The action activation area is - by the radio beacon signal strength set by the radio beacon transmitter (2), and / or - preset by predefined thresholds of received signal parameters, 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal parameters describe a radio beacon received by the radio beacon receiver (12), and the predetermined threshold is set by the radio beacon receiver (12).

7. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the initiation of the action depends on a change in a signal parameter used to describe the received radio beacon.

8. 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the radio beacon receiver (12) transmits radio beacon data content of the received radio beacon to a central control stage (8), and the control stage (8) recognizes, based on the radio beacon data content, each radio beacon transmitter (2) that emitted the data content by the radio beacon, and initiates an operation relating to the recognized radio beacon transmitter (2).

9. 9. A method according to claim 8, wherein said control stage (8) stores data structures linking specific items (A, B, C) to specific radio beacon transmitters (2).

10. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the control stage (8) initiates an action with respect to a radio beacon receiver (12) from which the control stage (8) receives data content.

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