Wireless Shopping Cart Weight Tracking via Multi-Network Infrastructure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing shopping systems in stores are costly, complex, and unreliable, leading to high operational costs and negative impacts on profit margins, as they often require sophisticated and expensive handheld devices and shopping carts that are susceptible to theft and maintenance issues.
Innovation Solution
A multi-network system comprising a mesh communication network and a star communication network, utilizing ZIGBEE protocol, that allows shoppers to communicate wirelessly with the store, track their location, and transmit weight information from shopping carts, with computational functions distributed between a central computer and wireless end devices, minimizing the need for expensive end-user components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If sophisticated handheld devices and smart shopping carts are deployed to enable wireless communication and item tracking, then shopping experience and location tracking are improved, but device cost and operational complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the computational complexity from the handheld device and relocates it to the store's existing network infrastructure. The handheld device becomes a simple wireless communication endpoint that connects to the store's network, which handles all data processing, item tracking, and communication functions. This extraction resolves the contradiction by maintaining system reliability through centralized processing while dramatically simplifying the handheld device architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The store's existing network infrastructure acts as an intermediary between the handheld device and the shopping system. Rather than requiring the handheld device to directly process complex shopping data and communicate with multiple store systems, the network infrastructure mediates all communications, handling item tracking, location monitoring, and data management. This intermediary approach maintains reliability while reducing device complexity.
2Ease of operation
If expensive smart shopping carts with computational components are used to track items and provide shopping assistance, then shopping functionality is improved, but replacement cost and maintenance cost increase dramatically
Solution Approach 1:
The shopping cart system utilizes the store's existing network infrastructure to provide all computational services, eliminating the need for expensive embedded computers, processors, and software in each cart. The cart itself remains a simple mechanical shopping cart that happens to have wireless communication capability, while all intelligent functions are provided by the store's network system. This self-service approach by the infrastructure resolves the contradiction between functionality and manufacturing cost.
Solution Approach 2:
The store's network infrastructure provides multiple functions that would otherwise require separate expensive components in each shopping cart: item tracking, location monitoring, communication with point-of-sale systems, and shopping assistance. By making the infrastructure universal and multi-functional, the system achieves enhanced cart functionality without increasing individual cart manufacturing costs.
3Productivity
If sophisticated handheld devices are deployed to enable cashier-less shopping and item tracking, then shopping speed and convenience are improved, but insurance cost and replacement cost increase due to theft susceptibility
Solution Approach 1:
The patent effectively creates a disposable or replaceable handheld device that is inexpensive enough that replacement costs are minimal. By stripping the device of expensive computational components and relying on the store's network infrastructure, the device becomes a simple wireless communication tool that can be easily replaced if lost or stolen. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining shopping speed and convenience while making the device economically replaceable rather than a high-value security risk.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for shopping in a store is provided that includes a multi-network for communications in a store, a shopping cart that weighs items placed therein and then transmits that weight information through the multi-network, and a wireless end device that may be handheld and/or releasably attached to the shopping cart whereby a shopper uses the wireless end device to send and receive information to the store though the multi-network.