Compliance system for display units in a retail setting

• US 10,360,566 B2
• Filed: 04/06/2015
• Issued: 07/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WestRock Shared Services, LLC (WestRock Company)
• Original Assignee: WestRock Shared Services, LLC (WestRock Company)
• Inventors: Brown, Stephen Robert, Lazo, Philip Alfonso
• Primary Examiner(s): Detweiler, James M
• Application Number:
  US14/679,671
• Publication Number:
  US 20150287045A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,569 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/067 using time frame reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/106 using time related information in packets, e.g. by adding timestamps
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A system for monitoring compliance with a retail display program includes a beacon coupled to a promotional display structure. The beacon is configured to transmit a beacon signal that includes a beacon ID and is configured to be received by a user device. A database stores the beacon ID along with a specified retail facility and time period associated with the promotional display structure. A computing device is configured to receive a beacon data record at least partially generated by the user device. The beacon data record includes the beacon ID, a time stamp, and location-specific data associated with a retail facility in which the beacon data record is generated. The computing device is configured to compare the location-specific data and time stamp to the specified retail facility and time period to determine whether the promotional display structure is displayed in the specified retail facility during the specified time period.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring compliance with a retail display program, the retail display program comprising a promotional display structure intended to be displayed at a specified retail facility during a specified time period, said system comprising:

a beacon coupled to the promotional display structure, said beacon is configured to transmit a beacon signal, said beacon signal comprises a beacon ID;

a power source coupled to said beacon, wherein said power source is configured to activate automatically when the promotional display structure is erected;

a database storing said beacon ID along with data associated with the specified retail facility and the specified time period associated with the promotional display structure;

a beacon software application executable on a user device and configured to;

receive the beacon signal;

calculate, using the received beacon signal, a proximity to said beacon; and

generate a beacon data record in response to the proximity of the user device being within a predetermined range of said beacon, the predetermined range being no greater than six feet, wherein the beacon data record comprises said beacon ID, a time stamp, and location-specific data associated with a retail facility in which the beacon data record is generated, wherein the location-specific data includes GPS coordinates generated by the user device; and

a computing device in communication with said database, said computing device is configured to;

receive the beacon data record generated by the beacon software application;

retrieve the data associated with the specified retail facility and the specified time period linked to said beacon ID from said database;

compare the GPS coordinates to the data associated with the specified retail facility to determine whether the promotional display structure is displayed in the specified retail facility;

compare the specified time period to the time stamp to determine whether the promotional display structure is displayed during the specified time period;

store the beacon data record in a set of beacon data records received from a plurality of user devices including the user device; and

evaluate an effectiveness of the retail display program in exposing customers to the promotional display structure based on a number of the set of beacon data records associated with said beacon.

2. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the retail display program further comprises a specified location at which the promotional display structure is intended to be displayed within the specified retail facility, said system further comprising a reference beacon installed at a predetermined location in the retail facility, said reference beacon is configured to transmit a reference beacon signal, said reference beacon signal comprises a reference beacon ID, said beacon software application is configured to receive the reference beacon signal, wherein said database further links said beacon ID to the specified location and further stores said reference beacon ID along with the predetermined location, and wherein said beacon software application is configured to include the reference beacon ID in the generated beacon data record, said computing device is further configured to:

retrieve the specified location linked to said beacon ID from said database;

retrieve the predetermined location linked to said reference beacon ID from said database; and

compare the predetermined location to the specified location to determine whether the promotional display structure is displayed in the specified location.

3. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said beacon is embedded within a material from which the promotional display structure is fabricated.

4. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said beacon is a low-energy Bluetooth device, and said beacon signal is configured to be read at a distance of up to approximately 150 feet from said beacon.

5. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said computing device is further configured to store the beacon data record in the set of beacon data records received from the plurality of user devices in each of a plurality of retail facilities involved in the retail display program.

6. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said computing device is further configured to indicate that the promotional display structure is incorrectly displayed based on a received number of the beacon data records associated with the promotional display structure.

7. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said beacon is further configured to transmit a promotional message to the user device.

8. A system in accordance with claim 7, wherein the promotional message includes an electronic coupon for a product associated with promotional display structure.

9. A system in accordance with claim 7, wherein the promotional message includes a uniform resource locator (“

URL”

) associated with a web page available on the World Wide Web.

10. A system in accordance with claim 9, wherein the web page is configured to provide the user device with said beacon software application.

11. A method for monitoring compliance with a retail display program, said method comprising:

coupling a beacon to a promotional display structure prior to shipping the promotional display structure to a retailer;

transmitting a beacon signal from the beacon coupled to the promotional display structure, wherein the promotional display structure is intended to be displayed at a specified retail facility during a specified time period, the beacon signal comprises a beacon ID, and wherein the beacon is coupled to a power source that is configured to activate automatically when the promotional display structure is erected;

storing the beacon ID along with data associated with the specified retail facility and the specified time period associated with the promotional display structure in a database;

receiving the beacon signal by a beacon software application executing on a customer device associated with a customer of the retailer;

calculating, by the beacon software application using the received beacon signal, a proximity to the beacon;

generating, by the beacon software application, a beacon data record in response to the proximity of the user device being within a predetermined range of the beacon, the predetermined range being no greater than six feet, wherein the beacon data record includes the beacon ID, a time stamp, and location-specific data associated with a retail facility in which the beacon data record is generated, wherein the location-specific data includes GPS coordinates generated by the customer device;

receiving, by a computing device in communication with the database, the beacon data record generated by the beacon software application;

retrieving, by the computing device, the data associated with the specified retail facility and the specified time period linked to the beacon ID from the database;

comparing, by the computing device, the GPS coordinates to the data associated with the specified retail facility to determine whether the promotional display structure is displayed in the specified retail facility; and

comparing, by the computing device, the specified time period to the time stamp to determine whether the promotional display structure is displayed during the specified time period.

12. A method in accordance with claim 11, wherein the retail display program further comprises a specified location at which the promotional display structure is intended to be displayed within the specified retail facility, said method further comprising:

transmitting a reference beacon signal from a reference beacon installed at a predetermined location in the retail facility, the reference beacon signal comprises a reference beacon ID;

receiving, by the beacon software application, the reference beacon signal, wherein said generating the beacon data record further comprises including the reference beacon ID in the generated beacon data record;

linking in the database the beacon ID to the specified location and linking in the database the reference beacon ID to the predetermined location;

retrieving, by the computing device, the specified location linked to the beacon ID from the database;

retrieving, by the computing device, the predetermined location linked to the reference beacon ID from the database; and

comparing, by the computing device, the predetermined location to the specified location to determine whether the promotional display structure is displayed in the specified location.

13. A method in accordance with claim 11, further comprising storing, by the computing device, the beacon data record in a set of beacon data records received from a plurality of customer devices in each of a plurality of retail facilities involved in the retail display program.

14. A method in accordance with claim 13, further comprising evaluating, by the computing device, an effectiveness of the retail display program using the set of stored beacon data records.

15. A method in accordance with claim 13, further comprising indicating, by the computing device, that the promotional display structure is incorrectly displayed based on a received number of the beacon data records associated with the promotional display structure.

16. A method in accordance with claim 11, further comprising transmitting a promotional message from the beacon to the customer device.

17. A method in accordance with claim 16, wherein transmitting the promotional message comprises transmitting an electronic coupon for a product associated with promotional display structure.

18. A method in accordance with claim 16, wherein transmitting the promotional message comprises transmitting a uniform resource locator (“

URL”

) associated with a web page available on the World Wide Web.

19. A method in accordance with claim 18, wherein the web page is configured to provide the customer device with the beacon software application.