Location tracking of products and product display assemblies in a wirelessly connected environment

• US 10,674,466 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2019
• Issued: 06/02/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mobile Tech, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Mobile Tech, Inc.
• Inventors: Blaser, Robert Logan, Wylie, Hunter, Collier, Jacob Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Ali, Shawkat M
• Application Number:
  US16/730,432
• Publication Number:
  US 20200137708A1
• Time in Patent Office: 155 Days
• Field of Search: 235380, 235383, 375220, 705 1, 705 10, 705 26, 705 39, 726 2, 726 6
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/026 using orientation information, e.g. compass
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0025 synchronizing potentially movable access points
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

Disclosed herein are a number of example embodiments where wireless nodes are arranged in a wirelessly connected environment to support a variety of remote management operations, including location tracking, status monitoring, and remote control. In an example embodiment, the wireless nodes can be deployed in a retail store and provide remote management and control over any combination of product display assemblies, locks, power strips, display shelves, display hooks, and other node types.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a plurality of wireless nodes that are configured to form a mesh network for utilization in a retail store environment, each wireless node including a wireless transceiver for wireless communication over the mesh network;

wherein a first plurality of the wireless nodes are part of a plurality of product display assemblies, each product display assembly comprising a puck assembly configured to connect with a product for merchandising to consumers, each puck assembly having an associated puck assembly identifier;

wherein a second plurality of the wireless nodes are part of a plurality of door locks for regulating access to a plurality of lockable enclosures, each door lock having an associated lock identifier;

wherein another of the wireless nodes is part of a computer system through which users remotely monitor and control the product display assemblies and door locks;

wherein a plurality of the wireless transceivers are configured to in aggregate wirelessly transmit data to the computer system via the mesh network that (1) pairs a plurality of the puck assembly identifiers with identifiers for the products connected to the puck assemblies corresponding to those puck assembly identifiers, and (2) pairs a plurality of the lock identifiers with status information for the door locks corresponding to those lock identifiers; and

wherein the computer system is further configured to (1) receive the wirelessly transmitted data via the mesh network, (2) store data that identifies a location for each of a plurality of the product display assemblies in association with the puck assembly identifiers, (3) create a first data structure based on the received data and the stored data, wherein the first data structure tracks locations for the products based on the pairings between the puck assembly identifiers and product identifiers and the associations between the locations and puck assembly identifiers, and (4) create a second data structure based on the received data that tracks the status information for the door locks.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer system is further configured to provide a plurality of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for access by the users to remotely monitor and control the product display assemblies and door locks, and wherein the GUIs include a GUI that provides a visual mapping of the product display assemblies and door locks within the retail store environment.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the visual mapping comprises a plurality of selectable icons that are positioned in a spatial arrangement on the GUI having a relationship to the tracked locations of the product display assemblies in the retail store environment.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the GUIs include a GUI that provides information regarding a product display assembly corresponding to a selectable icon that has been selected by a user, wherein the provided information includes an identification of the product currently being merchandised by that product display assembly.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the computer system is further configured to generate and wirelessly transmit a command to a selected product display assembly within the retail store environment in response to a user input corresponding to the selected product display assembly via one of the GUIs.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the command comprises a command to arm or disarm a security feature of the selected product display assembly.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein a plurality of the door locks are associated with a sensor that detects an identifier for a product being moved into or out of the lockable enclosures whose access is regulated by those door locks, and wherein the wirelessly transmitted data includes data that pairs the detected product identifiers with the lock identifiers for those door locks.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the door locks are adapted for regulating access to a plurality of cabinets within the retail store environment.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein a plurality of the door locks are adapted for regulating access to a plurality of cabinets within the retail store environment, and wherein at least one of the door locks is adapted for regulating access to a room within the retail store environment.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the status information includes an access history for a plurality of users who interacted with the door locks.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein each of a plurality of the puck assemblies are detachable from the product display assemblies and attachable to different ones of the product display assemblies.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein each of a plurality of the product display assemblies further comprises a base assembly on which a plurality of the puck assemblies are restable;

wherein each base assembly has an associated base identifier;

wherein the stored data associates the base identifiers with the locations for the product display assemblies;

wherein each of a plurality of the puck assemblies is further configured to read a product identifier from the product connected thereto;

wherein each of a plurality of the wireless transceivers is further configured to wirelessly transmit data that identifies a pairing of puck identifier, base identifier, and read product identifier to the computer system via the mesh network; and

wherein the computer system is further configured to create the first data structure that tracks the product locations based on the pairing data and the associations between the base identifiers and locations.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein each of a plurality of the puck assemblies is adapted to be moveable between (1) a rest position in which the puck assembly rests on the base assembly, and (2) a lift position in which the puck assembly does not rest on the base assembly.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein each of a plurality of the product display assemblies further comprises a tether assembly configured to connect the puck assembly with the base assembly, even when the puck assembly is in the lift position.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein each of a plurality of the puck assemblies and wireless transceivers are further configured to perform the read operation and the wireless transmission operation respectively in response to a trigger event.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the trigger event comprises a lift of the puck assembly.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the trigger event comprises a loss of power to the product display assembly.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the trigger event comprises a new connection of a different puck assembly with the product display assembly.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the trigger event comprises a new connection of a different product with the product display assembly.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer system comprises a gateway computer.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the computer system further comprises a server for network communication with the gateway computer, the system further comprising a plurality of different mesh networks for utilization in different retail store environments that are dispersed across a plurality of geographic locations, the server configured to create and aggregate the first and second data structures for each of the different retail store environments.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer system comprises a server.

23. The system of claim 1, wherein a third plurality of the wireless nodes are part of peg hooks and/or display shelves.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein a third plurality of the wireless nodes are part of power strips and/or power outlets.