Electronic Price Tag Guide-Rail Position Detection With Resistors
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Solution Overview
Problem
In large supermarkets and chain supermarkets, target commodities often fail to be placed at designated positions, necessitating manual verification and increasing management costs due to the lack of efficient positioning systems for electronic price tags.
Innovation Solution
An electronic price tag system with a guide rail apparatus featuring positioning electrodes and resistors, where the electronic price tag measures voltage across a resistor to determine its position on the guide rail, allowing automatic verification and reducing manual intervention.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manual verification is used to check commodity placement, then placement accuracy can be ensured, but management costs and time consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical verification with an automated electrical measurement system. The guide rail apparatus uses positioning electrodes and resistors to form a voltage division circuit that automatically detects the electronic price tag's position through voltage measurement, eliminating the need for manual checking while maintaining placement accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service positioning detection where the electronic price tag automatically interacts with the guide rail apparatus. When the price tag is placed on the guide rail, its conductive contact piece automatically contacts the positioning electrodes, triggering the voltage measurement and position determination without requiring external manual intervention.
2Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If no positioning system is installed, then device complexity remains low, but the ability to detect and measure price tag position is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The guide rail apparatus serves multiple functions: it provides mechanical support for the guide rail, enables electrical connection through positioning electrodes, and performs position detection through the voltage division circuit. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate dedicated positioning components, thereby limiting the increase in device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses changes in electrical parameters (voltage division ratio) to detect position changes. By measuring the voltage across different resistors in the series circuit, the system can determine the position of the electronic price tag without requiring complex mechanical sensors or additional hardware.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system enables automatic detection of the electronic price tag's position, reducing management costs by minimizing manual verification efforts and ensuring accurate placement of commodities on shelves.
Implementation Method 1
the conductive contact piece comes into contact with one of the positioning electrodes in a positioning measurement mode
Implementation Method 2
the power-source positive-electrode connecting piece outputs a high level and a voltage across the second resistor is measured
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
An electronic price tag system, an electronic price tag (2), and a guide rail apparatus (1). The guide rail apparatus (1) comprises a guide rail (10); several positioning electrodes (11), which are successively arranged on the guide rail (10) at intervals end to end in an extension direction of the guide rail (10); and first resistors (12), which connect two adjacent positioning electrodes (11) in series, wherein the positioning electrode (11) at the tail is grounded. The electronic price tag (2) comprises a price tag body (20), and a power-source positive-electrode connecting piece (21), a power-source negative-electrode connecting piece (22) and conductive contact pieces (23), which are provided on the price tag body (20), wherein the power-source positive-electrode connecting piece (21) and the power-source negative-electrode connecting piece (22) are configured to be used for connecting to a power source, and the power-source positive-electrode connecting piece (21) and the conductive contact pieces (23) are electrically connected by means of a second resistor (25). Moreover, the electronic price tag (2) is configured to make the conductive contact pieces (23) come into contact with one positioning electrode (11) in a positioning measurement mode after the electronic price tag is mounted on the guide rail (10), such that the power-source positive-electrode connecting piece (21) outputs a high level and measures the voltage across the two ends of the second resistor (25), and the voltage across the two ends of the second resistor (25) is configured to be used for determining whether the price tag body (20) is located at a designated target position on the guide rail (10). In this way, manual verification is not required, thereby greatly reducing management costs.