SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING COMPLIANCE WITH RETAIL DISPLAY REGULATIONS ACROSS A PLURALITY OF JURISDICTIONS

• US 20110066458A1
• Filed: 09/17/2009
• Published: 03/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Information Planning and Management Service Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Information Planning and Management Service Incorporated
• Inventors: Dale, Ernest James, Eichenser, Barbara Clark
• Granted Patent: US 9,367,851 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Compliance with retail display regulations that retailers are subject to within a plurality of jurisdictions is managed. Retail display regulations may differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. To facilitate compliance, retail display regulations for a plurality of jurisdictions are centrally maintained. The regulations may then be used to dynamically generate retail display materials for locations across a plurality of jurisdictions with different regulatory schemes. The central storage and/or maintenance of the retail display regulations may facilitate compliance with disparate regulatory schemes that retailers are subject to based in part of retail location. Central storage of the retail display regulations may facilitate certification of compliance by regulating entities associated with the jurisdictions.

Claims

1. A system configured to manage compliance with one or more retail display regulations within a plurality of jurisdictions, the system comprising:

electronic storage configured to store retail display regulations for retail display materials that are to be displayed in a retail environment, wherein the retail display regulations regulate a plurality of display parameters of retail display materials, and wherein the retail display regulations include (i) a first set of retail display regulations that regulate display parameters of retail display materials displayed within a first jurisdiction, and (ii) a second set of retail display regulations that regulate display parameters of retail display materials displayed within a second jurisdiction; and

one or more processors in operative communication with the electronic storage, the one or more processors being configured to execute one or more computer modules, the one or more computer modules comprising;

a regulation request reception module configured to receive regulation requests requesting retail display regulations stored by the electronic storage, wherein the regulation requests specify requested retail display regulations at least by indicating one or more jurisdictions for which retail display regulations are requested; and

a regulation request processing module configured to process received regulation requests by obtaining requested retail display regulations and providing access to the requested retail display regulations such that (i) responsive to a received regulation request indicating the first jurisdiction, the request processing module obtains retail display regulations from the first set of retail display regulations and provides access to the obtained retail display regulations, and (h) responsive to a received regulation request indicating the second jurisdiction, the request processing module obtains from the electronic storage retail display regulations from the second set of retail display regulations and provides access to the obtained retail display regulations.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the regulation request reception module is configured to receive regulation requests transmitted electronically to the one or more processors over a communications network from a computing platform associated with a retailer, and wherein the request processing module is configured to provide access to the requested retail display regulations by transmitting the requested retail display regulations to the computing platform associated with the retailer over the communications network.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer modules further comprise:

a retail display materials request module configured to receive a retail display materials request for generation of one or more retail display materials files that define retail display materials to be displayed in a retail environment, wherein the retail display materials requests received by the retail display materials request module specify one or more display jurisdictions within which the retail display materials defined by one or more retail display materials files will be displayed; and

a retail display materials definition module configured to generate, responsive to a retail display materials request, one or more retail display materials files that define retail display materials in accordance with the retail display materials request, wherein generation of the one or more retail display materials files includes;

generating a regulation request to the regulation request reception module for retail display regulations associated with the one or more display jurisdictions;

receiving access to retail display regulations associated with the one or more display jurisdictions from the regulation request processing module; and

generating one or more retail display materials files that conform to the accessed retail display regulations.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the one or more computer modules further comprise:

a retail display materials generation module configured to respond to a retail display materials request by either initiating production of the retail display materials defined by the one or more retail display materials files requested by the retail display materials request on a printing device communicatively linked with the one or more processors, or transmitting the one or more retail display materials files requested by the retail display materials request to a requesting retailer.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic storage is further configured to store first certification information related to certification of the first set of retail display regulations with the first jurisdiction, and second certification information related to certification of the second set of label information with the second jurisdiction.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the one or more computer modules further comprise:

a certification module configured to manage the first certification information and the second certification information.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the certification module enables the first jurisdiction to directly control the first certification information, and enables the second jurisdiction to directly control the second certification information.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the certification module is configured to receive certification information from one or more retailers in the first jurisdiction and from one or more retailers in the second jurisdiction, to update the first certification information in the electronic storage based on certification information received from the one or more retailers in the first jurisdiction, and to update the second certification information in the electronic storage based on certification information received from the one or more retailers in the second jurisdiction.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the regulation request processing module is configured to process received regulation requests by obtaining requested retail display regulations and providing access to the requested retail display regulations such that (i) responsive to a received regulation request indicating the first jurisdiction and the second jurisdiction, the request processing module obtains retail display regulations from the first set of retail display regulations and the retail display regulations from the second set of retail display regulations, and provides access to the obtained retail display regulations.

10. The system of claim 3, wherein the retail display materials definition module configured such that, responsive to a retail display materials request specifying the first jurisdiction and the second jurisdiction as display jurisdictions, wherein generation of the one or more retail display materials files includes:

generating a regulation request to the regulation request reception module for retail display regulations associated with the first jurisdiction and the second jurisdiction;

receiving access to the first set of retail display regulations and the second set of retail display regulations from the regulation request processing module;

generating a first set of retail display materials files that conform to the first set of retail display regulations; and

generating a second set of retail display materials files that conform to the second set of retail display regulations.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more retail display regulations regulate one or more parameters of one or both of price labels and/or point of display signage.

12. A computer-implemented method of managing compliance with one or more retail display regulations within a plurality of jurisdictions, wherein the method is implemented in a computer system comprising one or more processors configured to execute one or more computer program modules, the method comprising:

storing, to an electronic storage media accessible to the one or more processors, retail display regulations for retail display materials that are to be displayed in a retail environment, wherein the retail display regulations regulate a plurality of display parameters of retail display materials, and wherein the retail display regulations include (i) a first set of retail display regulations that regulate display parameters of retail display materials displayed within a first jurisdiction, and (ii) a second set of retail display regulations that regulate display parameters of retail display materials displayed within a second jurisdiction;

receiving, at the one or more processors, a regulation request requesting retail display regulations stored by the electronic storage, wherein the regulation request specifies requested retail display regulations at least by indicating one or more jurisdictions; and

executing, on the one or more processors of the computer system, one or more computer program modules configured to process the received regulation request by obtaining and providing access to retail display regulations from the first set of retail display regulations responsive to the received regulation request indicating the first jurisdiction, and/or by obtaining and providing access to retail display regulations from the second set of retail display regulations responsive to the received regulation request indicating the second jurisdiction.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the regulation request is transmitted electronically to the one or more processors over a communications network from a computing platform associated with a retailer, and wherein access to the requested retail display regulations is provided by transmitting the requested retail display regulations to the computing platform associated with the retailer over the communications network.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising to storing to the electronic storage media first certification information related to certification of the first set of retail display regulations with the first jurisdiction, and second certification information related to certification of the second set of label information with the second jurisdiction.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising executing, on the one or more processors of the computer system, one or more computer program modules configured to enable the first jurisdiction to directly control the first certification information, and to enable the second jurisdiction to directly control the second certification information.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving, at the one or more processors of the computer system, certification information from one or more retailers in the first jurisdiction and from one or more retailers in the second jurisdiction;

executing, on the one or more processors of the computer system, one or more computer program modules configured to update the first certification information in the electronic storage based on certification information received from the one or more retailers in the first jurisdiction; and

executing, on the one or more processors of the computer system, one or more computer program modules configured to update the second certification information in the electronic storage based on certification information received from the one or more retailers in the second jurisdiction.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein responsive to the received regulation request indicating the first jurisdiction and the second jurisdiction, processing the received regulation request comprises obtaining retail display regulations from the first set of retail display regulations and retail display regulations from the second set of retail display regulations, and providing access to the obtained retail display regulations.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more retail display regulations regulate one or both of price labels and/or point of display signage.

19. A computer-implemented method of managing compliance with one or more retail display regulations within a plurality of jurisdictions, wherein the method is implemented in a computer system comprising one or more processors configured to execute one or more computer program modules, the method comprising:

storing, to an electronic storage media accessible to the one or more processors, retail display regulations for retail display materials that are to be displayed in a retail environment, wherein the retail display regulations regulate a plurality of display parameters of retail display materials displayed within a plurality of jurisdictions, and wherein the retail display regulations include (i) a first set of retail display regulations that regulate display parameters of retail display materials displayed within a first jurisdiction, and (ii) a second set of retail display regulations that regulate display parameters of retail display materials displayed within a second jurisdiction;

receiving, at the one or more processors of the computer system, a retail display materials request for generation of one or more retail display materials files that define retail display materials to be displayed in a retail environment, wherein the retail display materials request specifies one or more display jurisdictions within which the retail display materials defined by the one or more retail display materials files will be displayed;

executing, on the one or more processors of the computer system, one or more computer program modules configured to obtain from the electronic storage media associated with the one or more display jurisdictions; and

executing, on the one or more processors of the computer system, one or more computer program modules configured to generate one or more retail display materials files that conform to the accessed retail display regulations.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising executing, on the one or more processors of the computer system, one or more computer program modules configured to initiate production of the retail display materials defined by the one or more retail display materials files requested by the retail display materials request on a printing device communicatively linked with the one or more processors.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising executing, on the one or more processors of the computer system, one or more computer program modules configured to transmit the one or more retail display materials files requested by the retail display materials request to a requesting retailer.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the one or more retail display regulations regulate one or both of price labels and/or point of display signage.