System for recognizing display devices
US5461561A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 10, 1991 |
| Grant date | Oct 24, 1995 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 10, 2011 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG09G2380/04
- WIPO fieldIT methods for management
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
In a system for displaying prices in a retail store, improved system architecture and stored programs are disclosed to permit improved accuracy in confirming the physical location of display devices called labels. A response from a label to the host, or central computer, has appended to it an additional message by an appender, one of a plurality of appenders located throughout the architecture. The appender's message permits localization of the labels. A power-on status flag in a response from the labels permits the central computer to determine, through global inquiries to all the labels, whether any of the labels has had an interruption of power. A dongle or RF-linked bar-code scanner permits store personnel to send messages to the central computer to request that labels in a particular subarea of the store display alternative information such as the amount of inventory for items in that subarea.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.