Sign Bundle Organization Using Continuous Areas
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Solution Overview
Problem
Inefficient allocation and production of signage in retail and warehouse environments lead to resource waste, excess material usage, and increased production time due to bundling by aisle, resulting in skipped pitches and excessive blank signs.
Innovation Solution
The system optimizes signage bundling by defining continuous areas within a space layout, determining area-specific sign requirements, and applying bundle rules to create bundles that span multiple aisles, reducing the number of bundles and blank signs, and adjusting the layout to optimize sign counts based on user feedback.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If signs are bundled by aisle, then installation organization is simplified, but the number of bundles increases and production time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple aisles into continuous areas that span across aisle boundaries. By defining areas based on continuous geometric shapes rather than aisle boundaries, the system combines signs from multiple aisles into fewer, larger bundles. This reduces the total number of bundles while maintaining installation organization through the area-based grouping approach.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from organizing signs by linear aisle dimensions to organizing by two-dimensional continuous areas. This dimensional shift allows the system to group signs across multiple aisles into unified areas, reducing the number of separate bundles needed and optimizing production cycles.
2Ease of operation
If signs are bundled by aisle, then installation organization is simplified, but excess blank signs are produced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by defining continuous areas with specific geometric properties that optimize sign placement. Each area is configured to contain the precise number of signs needed for displays within that continuous space, eliminating unnecessary blank signs while maintaining organization for installation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary calculation of exact sign requirements for each continuous area before production. By determining the precise number of signs needed based on the continuous area geometry and display requirements, the system avoids producing excess blank signs and optimizes material usage.
3Productivity
If more signs are printed on each sheet, then productivity increases, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the space layout into continuous areas, each with specific geometric boundaries. This segmentation allows the system to calculate exact sign requirements for each area and optimize the number of signs per sheet accordingly. By breaking down the overall production into area-specific units, the system maintains precision while increasing overall productivity.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems obtain, using a computer, a space layout having areas. The areas maintain display structures, and the display structures are adapted to maintain display items. Such methods and systems obtain, using the computer, item data related to the display items. The item data is formatted to be printed on item signs that are adapted to be attached to the display structures in locations corresponding to the display items. Each of the item signs is different from the other item signs and each of the item signs is specific to the corresponding display items. These methods and systems: determine, using the computer, for each of the areas, an area-specific number of item signs to be printed based on the display items in each of the areas; obtain, using the computer, bundle rules; and organize, using the computer, the item signs into sign bundles according to the bundle rules.