ADVERTISING BEACON FOR RETAIL ENVIRONMENTS
First Claim
1. A retail advertising system, comprising:
- at least one advertising beacon configured to broadcast a micro-located radio signal;
at least one inventory control sensor adapted to be disposed on a shelf in a retail environment and to have retail items disposed thereon;
at least one electronic shelf label, configured to display at least a price of a retail item;
a power and communications distribution system comprising;
a controller, configured to communicate with each of the at least one advertising beacon, the at least one inventory control sensor, and the at least one electronic shelf label;
a power and communications distribution loop connected to the controller;
wherein each of the at least one advertising beacon, the at least one inventory control sensor, and the at least one electronic shelf label are inductively coupled to the power and communications distribution loop; and
wherein each of the at least one advertising beacon, the at least one inventory control sensor, and the at least one electronic shelf label are associated by the controller with a retail item of a first retail product type.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An advertising beacon configured to inductively couple to a power and control system which may include various retail electronic devices such as electronic shelf labels, video monitor displays, out of stock or inventory control sensors, promotional glass displays, and the like. The advertising beacon wirelessly broadcasts content, such as a web address or a programmed computer code associated with a web address, to smart devices which are able to retrieve coupons, advertisements, product information and the like from the web address. The advertising beacon operates in conjunction with other electrical devices of the power and control system to aid a customer'"'"'s product selection and to aid store personnel'"'"'s inventory and information management.
47 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A retail advertising system, comprising:
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at least one advertising beacon configured to broadcast a micro-located radio signal; at least one inventory control sensor adapted to be disposed on a shelf in a retail environment and to have retail items disposed thereon; at least one electronic shelf label, configured to display at least a price of a retail item; a power and communications distribution system comprising; a controller, configured to communicate with each of the at least one advertising beacon, the at least one inventory control sensor, and the at least one electronic shelf label; a power and communications distribution loop connected to the controller; wherein each of the at least one advertising beacon, the at least one inventory control sensor, and the at least one electronic shelf label are inductively coupled to the power and communications distribution loop; and wherein each of the at least one advertising beacon, the at least one inventory control sensor, and the at least one electronic shelf label are associated by the controller with a retail item of a first retail product type. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A system of advertising in a retail environment, comprising:
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a first advertising beacon adapted to be disposed in a retail environment and to broadcast a first signal at a predetermined range, wherein the first advertising beacon is inductively coupled to a power source and wherein the first signal comprises at least an address of advertising content; a wireless access point adapted to be disposed in a retail environment; said first advertising beacon and said wireless access point configured such that a smart device entering the predetermined range of the first advertising beacon receives the first signal and connects with the wireless access point to retrieve advertising content at the address. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method in a retail advertising system comprising a plurality of advertising beacons inductively coupled to a controller and disposed in a retail environment, the method comprising:
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transmitting, from each advertising beacon of the plurality of advertising beacons to a smart device, a micro-located signal comprising a coupon; receiving, at each of the advertising beacons of the plurality of advertising beacons from the smart device, an acceptance or rejection of the coupon; sending a notification of the acceptance or rejection of the coupon from each of the advertising beacons of the plurality of advertising beacons to the controller; aggregating at the controller the notifications received from each of the advertising beacons of the plurality of advertising beacons; and outputting, from the controller to a user interface, aggregated coupon data. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification