Price Checking Stations Ad-hoc Network Failover
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Solution Overview
Problem
Price checking stations in retail establishments are often idle, leading to underutilization of their processing and communication capabilities, and require additional hardware for managing mobile workforces, which can result in a single point of failure and equipment loss risks.
Innovation Solution
Implementing an ad-hoc wireless communication network using existing price checking stations, where they can be dynamically added or removed, with a master-slave configuration and failover mechanisms, allowing them to perform tasks like employee tracking and equipment pairing without additional hardware costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If price checking stations are connected to a central computer or server using wired or wireless connectivity, then they can provide information services to users, but they remain idle most of the time wasting their processing and communication capabilities
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables price checking stations to perform multiple functions beyond their traditional price checking role. By forming an ad-hoc network, these stations can simultaneously serve as communication nodes, data collection points, and processing units for various store operations including inventory management, customer tracking, and communication with mobile devices, thereby eliminating idle time and maximizing resource utilization
Solution Approach 2:
The price checking stations autonomously form and manage their own ad-hoc network without requiring a central server or additional hardware infrastructure. Each station dynamically configures its role in the network, automatically establishes connections with other stations, and independently performs data processing and communication tasks, enabling self-service operation that eliminates wasted capabilities
2Reliability
If additional hardware is used to manage mobile workforces, then comprehensive management capabilities can be achieved, but it creates a single point of failure and increases hardware costs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the management function into the existing price checking stations themselves rather than requiring separate dedicated hardware. Multiple price checking stations collectively provide mobile workforce management capabilities through their ad-hoc network connections, distributing the management function across several devices rather than concentrating it in a single point of failure
Solution Approach 2:
The ad-hoc network acts as an intermediary layer between the price checking stations and the central computer. This distributed network infrastructure enables management functions to be performed locally across multiple stations, providing redundancy and eliminating the single point of failure that would exist with a direct connection to a single server
Data Source
AI summary
A technique for operating an ad-hoc wireless communication network includes providing 400 a plurality of price checking stations 102 having wireless communication capabilities, designating 402 one of the price checking stations 102 as a master station in the ad-hoc network, and designating the remaining stations as slave stations 100, and communicating with devices 104-110 deployed in the network using the wireless communications capabilities of the price checking stations 100, 102.